Kenny and Yachiru's Soulreaping Adventures
by emichii
Summary: Best friends, Kenny and Yachiru embark on insane adventures as they go on with their shinigami lives, trying to teach a bunch of crazy Academy students, wrecking havoc in the Living World and beating up anyone who gets in their way!
1. Buy one, get one free!

Disclaimer: Bleach does not belong to me!!

Kenny and Yachiru's Slightly Violent Soul-Reaping Adventures

**Chapter 1****: Buy one, get one free! **

The Eleventh Company building was quiet. It was the earliest part of the morning, and there was barely a sound to be heard. Ikkaku was one of the first shinigami awake. He was taking his daily morning stroll along the quiet path outside the building.

Suddenly he thought he heard someone yawn from inside. Almost immediately, Ikkaku picked up his pace. He knew that the silence was about to be disturbed.

"WOOHOO!! IT'S MORNING!!!"

The high-pitched voice of the eleventh company assistant captain pierced through the formerly peaceful quiet of early morning. Anyone who had been asleep in the building was immediately woken up.

"KENNY!! Wake up!! It's morning!!!" Yachiru was shouting now, and Ikkaku could hear her perfectly clearly from outside the building. He could also hear her footsteps banging on the floorboards as she ran around crazily.

Ikkaku rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He was about to stomp off, when the front door slid open and a certain pink-haired shinigami jumped him.

"PACHINKO BALL!! You're awake already!!" Yachiru cried out affectionately.

"Argh!! Get off me!!" Ikkaku angrily tried to pull the assistant captain off him.

"Goodness. So much energy this early in the morning." Another voice joined in.

"Yumichika…" Ikkaku sent a sideways glare at the shinigami that had appeared beside him.

Finally, the front door was slid open with a huge bang and the spiky-haired captain stepped outside the door, towering high above the others.

"You guys sure are noisy." He growled in his deep voice.

"KEN-CHAN!!" Yachiru flung her arms into the air and cheered. She immediately bounced off Ikkaku's shoulders and clambered up to her spot on Kenpachi's shoulder.

"Morning, Captain." Yumichika said.

"Huh." Kenpachi simply grunted in reply. He straightened up and turned to leave. "Are you ready for the day? Let's go!"

The Eleventh Company of the Gotei 13 was known for its superb strength and toughness. There was also always a lot of attention focused on the Captain, Kenpachi Zaraki, who didn't even know the name of his zanpakuto, and could hardly sense spiritual pressure at all. He was said to have no mercy at all, and was a brutal fighter who loved bloodshed. However, Kenpachi was also a rebel. He had to contradict these facts by carrying a tiny pink-haired girl on his shoulder.

But she was his best friend. It sure was a weird sight, this towering fighting-obsessed giant and this tiny pink-haired bundle of energy.

No-one could argue with it. There was never any question about Yachiru becoming Assistant Captain. It was simple.

Kenpachi and Yachiru were inseparable. If you got Kenpachi, you got Yachiru as well. Wherever he went, she went also. It was like buy one, get one free.

And after quite a bit of experience, Ikkaku had learnt to accept it.

There was a meeting for all the assistant captains of the Gotei 13 that day. When Yachiru entered the room, she was a bit annoyed at how quiet the room was. She noticed that Izuru was looking very nervous (as usual), and possibly even more now that Yachiru had entered the room.

The other assistant captains were spread out around the room. Yachiru shrugged her shoulders and leant against the wall, waiting for the First Company's lieutenant to arrive.

When he finally arrived, he told them all: "I called this meeting today because we need the help of the captain and assistant captain of one of the Gotei 13. The Shinigami Academy has a class that needs the experience of working in a company. We want a captain and assistant captain to take over this class and teach them."

There was silence throughout the room.

"They need to teach the class and take them on real missions, give them real battle experience. That way, they'll all be ready when they graduate from the Academy."

The words 'battle experience' zoned into Yachiru's head. Actually, she was thinking more about battles. Kenny loved battles!!

"Is anyone willing to volunteer?"

Nobody in the room made any movement. It was obvious they were all thinking the same thing. Who'd want to teach a whole class of bratty immature soul reaper-wannabes?

And it wasn't like any of them really had the kind of personality that would work well with students, and could be a good teacher.

Some of them glanced at Isane, thinking that maybe she and Captain Unohana would take the job; but Isane already knew that Fourth Company was way too busy tending people's wounds and injuries.

The other possible choice could be Momo Hinamori. But she was the Assistant Captain, as well as the Acting Captain of Fifth Company, and she couldn't do it on her own.

Matsumoto looked deep in thought. You could almost see the wheels turning in her head. What if she and her dear Tachio went to teach a bunch of lively youngsters? She almost laughed out loud as she imagined her little captain among the much taller students. What if she lost him?

Yachiru was also thinking hard. She wasn't actually thinking about the 'teaching' part of the job, just the 'battles', and how Kenny adored them.

When the room was completely silent, all of a sudden, Yachiru jumped about three feet in the air, raising her hand and waving it around wildly as she shouted: "WE'LL DO IT!!!"

"What?" Everyone else in the room stared in wonder at the pink-haired girl dancing up and down.

"We'll do it!!" Yachiru repeated cheerfully, "Kenny and I will teach 'em!!"

Obviously, there was nothing that could compare to the stunned faces of the other assistant captains. They were all staring and gaping at Yachiru, sweat drops on their foreheads as they tried to imagine the scary Captain Kenpachi Zaraki teach a bunch of Academy students.

Absolutely none of them believed the Eleventh Company Captains could do it, but they saw Yachiru's excited face, and let it go.

"WHAT??" Ikkaku screamed at the top of his lungs.

Yachiru looked very confused, still clueless as to why everyone else was so surprised that she had volunteered. "What?" She asked, her voice slightly upset.

Ikkaku coughed a couple of times, trying to get over the image of Kenpachi and Yachiru attempting to teach a class. He shook his head violently and said, "Listen, Yachiru, there's no way you and the captain could do that!!"

"Why not??" Yachiru wondered.

"Because… because…" Ikkaku trailed off, unable to describe the reason.

Yachiru raised her eyebrows at Ikkaku's mumbling. She shrugged. "There's nothing to worry about! Kenny's gonna have no trouble at all!!"

"I'm gonna have no trouble with what?" Kenpachi asked as he stepped out onto the front porch of the building where Yachiru and Ikkaku were talking.

"Ken-chan!!" Yachiru grinned up at her beloved captain.

"Yachiru volunteered you to go teach a class from the Shinigami Academy," Ikkaku said.

Kenpachi's eyebrows rose a little in surprise. "Did you, Yachiru?"

"YEP!! It's gonna be so much fun!!' Yachiru said proudly.

Kenpachi was silent for a while.

He knew that he couldn't actually do it. Hah!! He'd probably end up killing half the students and frightening the other half away! But he saw Yachiru's smiling face, and knew that he couldn't disappoint his friend.

Kenpachi sighed. "Fine."

"YAAYYY!!" Yachiru jumped to her feet and then hurried after Kenpachi as he started heading back inside. She expertly climbed onto his shoulder, grinning happily.

"We're gonna have so much fun, right?" She said.

"Hm." he replied.

Yachiru rested her head against his ear. Smiling satisfied, she said, "We're gonna be best friends forever!!"

Kenpachi kept walking, solidly and sternly as usual.

Yachiru grinned, and the tiny girl leant over and wrapped her arms around Kenpachi's neck. "I love ya, Kenny!!"

Kenpachi barely glanced at her nor reacted to her statement. He kept walking along. He grunted and then muttered his reply. "I know."

**That was the first chapter!! ****Thanks so much for reading!! I hope you liked it! Please review and tell me what ya think, everyone! from emichii!! **


	2. That Scary Teacher!

**Yo! I'm emichii! And I wanna thank you for all the encouraging and awesome reviews! And thanks for the very first review, Sebbo! Ha! Now your name's on my fanfic! Cool, huh? **

**I hope you'll continue to like and support this fic! Here's chapter 2! Read and review! **

**Chapter 2: That Scary Teacher!**

Kenpachi walked in his heavy footsteps into the Shinigami Academy, about to meet the class he was going to be teaching for the next few months. The stern and frightening Eleventh Captain stomped down the hallway and slid open the door to the classroom. 

-

The Shinigami Academy Students were either sitting at their desks or on them, looking lazy and undisciplined. Half of them seemed bored to death. Most of them had a wooden training shinai fastened to their side. 

They had all heard that they were going to be taught by a Gotei 13 Captain. Some of them were not so impressed, and others were impatient to see if this captain was actually so impressive. The students didn't normally hear about the captains, so they didn't know about the infamous Kenpachi Zaraki. 

And because of that, they were all fully unprepared for what they were about to face. 

Suddenly, the door slid open with a heavy bang. The students immediately jumped to attention. They watched with wide anticipating eyes as the large spiky-haired captain walked in and stood at the front of the room, his presence immediately making the room seem small and unimportant. 

The students' faces turned pale and some of them felt a little bit of nausea coming on from his huge amount of spirit energy. He had one eye covered by an eye patch and a scar running down his face. He glared at them ferociously with his one eye that was not covered. 

The Academy students sweated under his gaze and waited. 

Finally, Kenpachi Zaraki spoke. In his deep growly voice, he boomed: "So you're the bunch of pathetic wimps I'm gonna have to teach from now on?" 

There was an uncomfortable silence in reply from the class. 

A smug smirk appeared on Kenpachi's face. He let out a sigh and then said loudly, "Okay, listen up, you fools! I'm Kenpachi Zaraki and I'll be training and kicking you guys around for the next couple of months! I'm not gonna be a nice teacher, heck no, so I expect ya all to listen up and do everything I tell you to!" 

He looked across the faces that stared back at him, his smirk still on his face. The class looked very nervous and Kenpachi was satisfied. 

Then, all of a sudden, the nervous silence was broken by the pink-haired wonder. Yachiru jumped out from seemingly nowhere and landed neatly on the floor beside Kenpachi. 

The students gaped at the tiny girl. 

Yachiru had a huge grin on her face as she cheerfully introduced herself. "I'm Yachiru Kusajishi, the Assistant Captain of the 11th Division! I'm gonna be helping Ken-chan to teach you guys, okaaayyy?" 

They all were thinking the same thing. _This tiny girl is the assistant captain? How can she be assistant captain to such a scary guy?_

Yachiru turned quickly and smiled up at her beloved friend. She leapt up and clung to his shoulders, and pulled herself up so she looked over at the class. "It'll be fun, Kenny!" She told him. 

_She's riding on his shoulder? _The students gawked. 

Kenpachi seemed to have had enough of just talking. He turned abruptly towards the screen door and barked out at his students, "Oi, you lot! Let's get to work!"

The students mumbled quietly to each other as they followed their strange teachers out of the classroom. 

-

Kenpachi's class arrived out at a field that was just outside a deserted area of Rukongai. Both Kenpachi and Yachiru knew that this was one of Kenpachi's favourite training spots, because there were always a huge multitude of Hollows lurking about of nesting nearby. 

The students watched nervously and with wonder as about six or seven Hollows appeared, obviously angry at being disturbed, and now hungry from the smell of spirit energy. Kenpachi grinned as the Hollows drew closer. They all just stared, sweat gathering at the back of their necks. 

"What are you waiting for, fools? Go wild!" He cried. 

But these were Academy Students. They barely got a chance to fight small Hollows, and they were wimpy and weak, as Kenpachi had predicted. Kenpachi rolled his eyes and Yachiru, on his shoulder, could tell what he was thinking. 

_Looks like I'll have to really beat the strength out of these kids… _A tiny bit of determination shone in Kenpachi's eyes. _Heh… I'll push them until they just about break. I'm gonna make them strong and worthy enough to be called Shinigami Academy students! _

Yachiru smiled. _Yeah. You do that, Kenny! _

Kenpachi straightened himself up and glared sternly into the eyes of every single one of his pathetic little pupils. His voice was commanding and stern. "Is that it? Have absolutely none of you got the guts or the strength to even try to kill these measly Hollows? You call yourselves Shinigami Academy Students?"

They shivered under his gaze. Kenpachi noticed one slightly more strong-looking guy standing near the front. 

"Look, you idiots! I know you're all training, but how do you expect to get any stronger, if you're not willing to push yourselves?" He practically roared at them. "I don't care if you're the weakest one out there! I don't care if you can barely lift your sword!" 

They seemed to perk up at Kenpachi's fired up yelling. That guy who had caught Kenpachi's eye seemed to be rearing up and gathering a little bit of courage. Some others had noticed the guy pulling himself together and were starting to put on faces of determination over their fear. 

A satisfied smirk started spreading across Kenpachi's face. This was actually getting somewhere… 

"Even if you can't even hit these Hollows, I wanna see every single damn one of you out there and fighting! Heck, you're all so lame, I bet you'll be fighting more for your lives than fighting to kill these Hollows, but that's okay for now! Get your bloody selves out there and fight like mad! I don't give a damn how much it hurts or how hard it is, but get out there and DO SOMETHING!" Kenpachi yelled. 

After Kenpachi's yell, the class was silent for a moment. And then that guy standing near the front clutched his sword in his hand tighter and darted out into the throng of Hollows. Kenpachi smiled with satisfaction. 

The Eleventh Company captains stood back and watched as the class slowly sprang to life and ran off to prove they were not wimps and they had the guts. 

-

Yachiru watched the students from over Kenpachi's shoulder. She stared at the crazy students struggling to fight the huge Hollows. They really were too weak for killing these Hollows, and Kenpachi had actually known that. Yachiru couldn't help smiling cheekily at the students getting bloodied up and beaten up all over the place. 

Finally, Yachiru looked up at Kenpachi and said, "Hey, Kenny, you reckon we should go save them now?" 

Kenpachi watched as his students were thrown to the ground and puddles of blood following their bodies. He said, "Let's see if they're gonna ask for help first." 

Soon, though it was only a couple of minutes after the students had started fighting, they couldn't keep going. They screamed for help from their cruel uncaring teachers. Yachiru looked like she inspecting her fingernails. Kenpachi still had his smirk on his face.

The students' faces grew even whiter. Sweat ran down their faces. Fear shrouded their entire beings. 

_THEY DIDN'T CARE! _They screamed in their minds! _THEIR TEACHERS DIDN'T CARE IF THEY ALL DIED IN THEIR VERY FIRST LESSONS! _

Yachiru yawned and then glanced at the dying students again. 

"Hm…" She said to Kenpachi, "maybe it's time, Kenny," 

Kenpachi straightened up, picked Yachiru from off his shoulder and placed her gently down on the ground. Sighing, he made his way to the Hollows. "I s'pose I should stop my students from dying…" 

Suddenly, the tearful bloody dying shinigami students on the ground heard the slashing of swords and the tearing apart of Hollows. They looked up and saw Kenpachi, in his full glory, standing in front of them, with his old sword held up in the air and the Hollows behind and beside him falling apart into little bits and dissolving into the air, along with their dying moans. 

_He… actually saved us? _Their eyes were all wide and teary, full of disbelief and gratefulness. 

Kenpachi chuckled. He turned and started to head back to the Academy. As he passed the guy who he had been watching, Kenpachi told him, "What's your name, you fool?"

He had bright green hair and determined-looking red eyes. He stared straight back at Kenpachi despite the pain of being so brutally beaten up and dripping about half his blood supply all over the ground. "…Haruki…" 

Kenpachi smirked and walked off. "Haruki… you did well. The first guy who stupidly runs off out of everyone else proves that he's got the most guts." 

Haruki stared wide-eyed at the captain from his spot on the ground. 

"And guts are what you need to survive." 

Kenpachi turned and walked away. Yachiru jumped onto his shoulder and caught her regular ride. He said to the half-dead students, "Hurry up. We don't have all day. Back to the classroom." 

-

Back at the classroom, Kenpachi surveyed his class of crudely bandaged students. 

He stood at the front of the room, grinned and said, "I wanna say congratulations for at least getting out there and having a go. At least you fools showed you had some guts even though ya all got beaten up to a pulp." Kenpachi chuckled, and for a moment the battered class relaxed and thought maybe their teacher wasn't so bad after all. 

Yachiru narrowed her eyes at the students. _What? Ya think Kenny's gonna let you get away with just that for today? _

"However…" Kenpachi's sly smirk couldn't been wiped off his face as he was about to disappoint his relieved class. "Not one of you killed a single Hollow! So… as a punishment for that, every one of you is going to run around the Academy 5 times and then swing those iron-cast swords hanging on the wall 300 times!"

"WHAT?" They screamed at the teacher, jaws dropping wide open. 

Kenpachi decided it was probably time for a break so he started to walk out of the classroom door. Yachiru looked over his shoulder at the class and stuck out her tongue at them. 

"Dontcha ever underestimate Ken-chan!" 

**Thankyou for reading! I hope you liked! Yeah, this chapter came out early because for the Easter long weekend I'll be away! I hope you all have a super awesome Easter and eat lots of chocolate and hot cross buns, okaayy? **

**Read and review! **


	3. Broken Arms and Broken Smiles

I don't own Bleach

**I don't own Bleach!! **

**Hiya!! Thankyou so much for all your awesome reviews!! They all really encourage me to keep writing super chapters!! So please keep 'em coming!! Arigato!! **

"What happened to the legendary heavy solid-iron _only-for-decoration _swords that were meant to be hanging on the wall?!"

**Chapter 3: Broken arms and broken smiles **

"GOOD MORNING!!"

Ikkaku was stunned as he quickly took a backward step so that Yachiru bouncing out of the Eleventh Company headquarters wouldn't crash into him. Ikkaku failed to dodge the assistant captain as Yachiru tackled him to the ground.

Ikkaku sat up and glared at the pink-haired girl. "Damn, you're up early today."

"Hee hee!!" Yachiru giggled. "That's 'cuz me and Kenny have to teach our class!!"

Ikkaku couldn't help thinking to himself that having Yachiru and Kenpachi as teachers would be a nightmare. _I wonder how the poor unlucky students did yesterday… _He thought. He was abruptly interrupted out of his thoughts as Yachiru beside him let out an excited squeal and the Eleventh Company door loudly slid open.

Kenpachi stood up tall and proud as he grinned devilishly at his two favourite subordinates. He looked confident and ready to teach his students, no matter how early it was in the morning. After all, he and Yachiru still had to find their way to the Academy.

Ikkaku watched wide-eyed as Yachiru climbed onto Kenpachi's shoulder and they both quickly left to get to the Shinigami Academy.

Ikkaku was left gaping after them on the ground.

"Ikkaku?" Yumichika emerged from around the corner. The shinigami with the weird things sticking out from his eyelashes frowned a little at the bald one. "Why do you look so weirded out?"

Ikkaku sat cross legged on the wooden porch, still staring as Kenpachi and Yachiru's figures in the distance grew smaller and smaller. His voice was completely skeptical and slightly worried. "And I thought teaching was something the Captain would never do…"

The students seemed to have finally understood what was to be expected of them in Kenpachi's class. Most of them were hiding at the back of the room, and looking scared and pissed off for ever getting themselves into this mess. However, there were some of them that sat closer up the front, with bright eyes and brave grins pasted over their faces, ready for whatever their insane teacher would throw at them today.

When Kenpachi stormed into the classroom with his heavy footsteps and exploding spiritual pressure, he scanned his classroom of pathetic students and immediately noticed two targets (students).

The two students that caught his eye today were sitting in different sides of the room. One of them was Haruki, from the day before, with his shockingly bright green hair and his shining determined eyes and lop-sided grin.

Kenpachi was actually starting to grow fond of that one. He would have to keep watching him. Haruki could turn out pretty strong.

The other student was in the very back of the classroom in a corner, trying to hide from the menacing teacher. However, he noticed Kenpachi staring at him directly and immediately shrunk back even more, though it wasn't possible as he was already as far away as he could get.

He wasn't exactly the weakest-looking, but seemed the most unwilling and the most cowardly out of all of them. He looked like the person who had no self-esteem and no pride whatsoever, who wanted to hide and get through life in the shadows. He looked all depressing and grey, with his dark murky-looking hair and down-cast eyes that Kenpachi could not see properly.

Yachiru didn't look impressed with the class. Honestly, how did this bunch of losers expect to become Gotei 13 Shinigami if they had the amount of enthusiasm as Matsumoto had of doing paperwork?

Kenpachi rolled his eyes as he sighed. What were they doing in a classroom? How were they even meant to _train _and _get stronger _if they were stuck in a bloody _classroom_?!

"Muster up even a little of fighting spirit, fools!!" He growled at them as he turned towards the door. "We're going to train!!"

Sighs and murmurs were apparent as the class pulled themselves out of their seats and followed the two captains. Kenpachi and Yachiru seemed oblivious to them, though Yachiru was very quickly starting to lose her temper with the stubborn students.

Kenpachi and Yachiru's class of Academy Students arrived at one of the large training rooms. It was large and there was plenty of space for sparring.

Kenpachi shouted out, "You all have your dodgy little wooden swords with you?"

"Yeah…" The class chorused softly.

Kenpachi turned around and pulled one of the wooden swords hanging on the wall off and gripped it tightly in his hand. "I want you all to train hard with your sword skills and perfect your sword strokes!" Kenpachi turned suddenly and stared with unmatched shrewdness at the dark-haired guy from before. "And you!! I want to spar you and see your abilities!!"

Everyone else in the room froze, but none of their expressions were as shocked and scared as the guy himself.

The class erupted in gossip and whispers, murmurs about the guy Kenpachi chose.

"Seriously!! Why him??"

"Kouji?? Who the heck would want to fight him??"

"He's the weakest of the weak! He's the worst there is!"

Their mean comments were easily heard by everyone. Kouji himself stood up the front of the classroom, staring down at the floor, covering whatever emotions he might have with his untidy hair falling over his eyes.

"He's gonna be beaten up into pulp!! This should be fun to watch!!"

As soon as that sentence came out of a student's mouth, he fell with a loud thump onto the floor.

The others standing next to him were shocked as they stared at Yachiru, who had the biggest frown on her face as she mercilessly kicked the cruel boy a couple more times.

"Who asked you for your opinion??" she said angrily. "This is Kenny's class and he makes the decisions!!"

"Y-yes, Assistant Captain K-Kusajishi!!" The boy sputtered out from the floor.

Yachiru scowled at him and then removed her sandaled foot from his back. She turned towards Kenpachi and Kouji.

"Fight him, Ken-chan!!" She cheered.

Kouji couldn't stop shivering as he felt the monstrous Captain towering above him. He had his wooden shinai in his hands but he didn't seem to be able to grip it firmly enough.

Kenpachi let out a sudden growl and shouted at the other students: "What are you all standing there for?? This isn't a show!! Get to work!!"

The other students immediately scrambled for their swords and moved to the sides of the room, leaving a big space in the middle for Kenpachi's fight.

Kenpachi made an unsatisfied grunt as he inspected the wooden sword he had to use. _Ah dammit. What a lame sword!! _He sighed and stared at the student cowering in front of him.

"Don't think you're not being noticed, hiding around the back of the class like that." Kenpachi told him. "I don't give a damn if you're all grey and miserable like you look! I just want to see you put up a decent fight!! What's your name??"

"Hayasaki Kouji…" he muttered.

Kenpachi bent down and shoved his face so close to Kouji's that Kouji almost fell backwards with shock. "Hey! I asked you a question!! If you're going to answer it, answer it properly so I can hear ya!! And if you're gonna tell me your name, tell me it with pride!!"

"Hayasaki Kouji!" He said again, a little louder.

Kenpachi glared at him. "What?"

"HAYASAKI KOUJI!!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kenpachi gave a satisfied look. "Okay then, Hayasaki. Show me what you've got!"

Kouji was still shocked at himself for shouting out his name like that. The muddy-haired boy felt awkward there and he was unable to make the first move. Kenpachi frowned intently at him, greatly dissatisfied with Kouji.

"If you're not gonna do anything, then I will!" He shouted, springing forward, swinging his wooden sword.

Despite Kouji's apparent weakness, he seemed to have good reflexes and good defense. Kouji managed to block Kenpachi's strike with his shinai.

Kenpachi tilted his head to one side. _Hm… _"Okay, so you could block that one. But what about these??" He sped up his swings and charged for his student, swinging the sword like a madman, yet with precise accuracy; clearly fighting with the intent to kill, if not for the wooden sword.

Kouji winced as Kenpachi's wooden sword came closer and closer every time. It flew towards his eyes, his face, his shoulders, his chest, and his arms. However, although Kouji had only just managed to dodge or parry them, Kenpachi's strikes weren't slowing down or ceasing. Heck no, they were just beginning to warm up!

Kenpachi's grin deepened across his mouth as he did his favourite thing- fighting!! Sure, he was using a lame wooden training sword, but what the heck. He could see Kouji struggling as his storm of sword strikes closed in, closer and closer, faster and faster, so fast only a blur could be seen.

Kouji was sweating now, and terror rising in his eyes. Dammit, as soon as this teacher had walked into the classroom, he had known Kenpachi was gonna be merciless and tough! Kenpachi obviously didn't care if he accidentally killed one of his students!

Fear grew inside Kouji and started to take over him. Just like always, just like his everyday life at the Shinigami Academy, fear had always kept him back. That was why he hid. Or at least he tried to. He was hiding behind his dark murky hair, his classmates, and his cowardly uncooperative attitude.

Oh, but Kenpachi liked fear. He loved to see his fear in his opponents' eyes. It was one of his favourite things about battling. And now, Kouji was drawing back, moving further and further away, crawling back into his shell.

But Kenpachi wasn't going to let him!

The strikes and swings were now so fast, Kouji couldn't see anything. He was helpless. Suddenly, he felt one of Kenpachi's strikes hit. And then another. And another.

Sweat gathered at the back of Kouji's neck and on his face. White lines crossed his arms and back where Kenpachi's sword hit him, and then turned red, and then to a dark purple painful bruise.

Kouji was sent flying back.  
The students abandoned their sword-swinging and other training and immediately turned to stare at Kouji with widened eyes. Kouji landed on the wooden floor with a loud thud and his pain was etched deep into his face.

Kouji couldn't even be bothered to crawl up to his feet. What a pathetic… pitiful… wimpy… fool…

Kenpachi hated this. He hated to see people who didn't get up after they fell!! Bloody hell, they pissed him off so much! This idiot! How the heck was he ever meant to be called a shinigami if he gave up so easily?? It was Kouji's stubborn and unwilling cowardly attitude that first drew Kenpachi towards him. It was disrespectful to the opponent for anyone to act that way!

How dare he act that way when he was given the chance to fight Kenny?? Yachiru's scowl was ferocious as she glared at Kouji.

Kouji let out a pitiful groan of pain. Kenpachi's eyes darkened. He was full of resentment for Kouji's attitude and he was definitely not finished yet! Kenpachi sped towards Kouji's fallen figure, brandishing his wooden sword.

The watching students gaped and stared in unbelief. Their teacher was still going to attack even while his student was fallen?

Kenpachi swung the wooden sword with all his might and at that moment, everyone heard a noise that sounded like something breaking.

Movement froze in the room. The wooden shinai Kenpachi had been using smashed in two, and the other half went flying at full speed across the room and crashed into the wall, leaving Kenpachi holding only the wooden hilt.

At that same moment, Kouji's eyes widened with pain and suffering and tears sprang up, as he felt his arm break.

Everyone was silent. The classmates were unable to speak, having just witnessed their teacher break Kouji's arm, as well as the wooden shinai.

Kenpachi was ruthless and did not care even the least for Kouji. He stepped back and glared with immense pressure at the boy.

Kouji gasped out and choked out at the pain he was in. Tears were streaming from his eyes. He truly looked a wretched mess. He groaned and cried out in pain. He turned to Kenpachi and tried to murmur out, "Captain Zaraki!! Please… you win!! My arm's broken… I don't want to fight anymore!!"

Yachiru made a disapproving sound from her spot at the sidelines. The students near her were confused.

Kenpachi didn't stop his ruthless glare even for a second. "Is that it?"

"…Eh?" Kouji managed to sputter.

"Is _that _it? Is that all you've got??" Kenpachi yelled. He was practically seething and so scary that Kouji couldn't even squeak from fear.

"Do you have _any _idea how pitiful and pathetic you look right now?? Lying on the floor, battered by a lame _wooden sword_, with a broken arm and _tears _in your eyes, _begging for mercy_?!" Kenpachi's yell shocked Kouji deeply. The murky-haired boy shuddered and felt the pain multiply.

"Is that all you have?? You're just gonna _lie there_?? You don't even try to GET UP?? You're not even gonna TRY?? You're gonna lie there, crying and BEGGING FOR MERCY?? Even if it hurts like hell!! Even if you feel like you're gonna die!! Even if you're not ever gonna be able to use your arm again!! Are you just gonna lie there and TAKE IT??" Kenpachi practically screamed at the boy.

"Where's your spirit?? Don't you have any pride?? I don't care how minimal it is, aren't you gonna pull your dying body up to your feet and do _some _damage back to the guy who beat you up so badly?? I don't give a crap if you get up and then fall back down, but aren't you EVEN GONNA TRY?? Where's your sense of REVENGE?? Where's your PRIDE?? Aren't you angry at me for beating you to a pulp and then breaking your arm?? Aren't you going to get me back? Or at least try to get back up to your feet and prove you aren't so easily beaten??"

Kenpachi was so full of fury that the whole class was frozen still. Kenpachi continued, his voice growing louder and louder. "You know what? It's that attitude of giving up before you even try that I ABSOLUTELY HATE!!"

There was silence for a brief moment. Kouji had turned his eyes downcast and his eyes were shadowed by his murky-looking hair, as usual. He was shivering and quaking from fear, from terror, from pain. Tears were spilling from his eyes. But he couldn't argue with the captain. He knew Kenpachi was right.

It was that… attitude of giving up before even trying that had bounded him down from the start.

Kenpachi stared furiously at the feeble wimp of a boy, standing right beside his curled up form. "Have you got absolutely no pride at all?? You told me- you yelled your name out to me! Is this all Kouji Hayasaki is?! A coward who gives up before he even tries?? A freak who'd let everyone continue to hurl insults at him?? A fool who'd admit defeat before he even began to fight back?? Show me who he is!! Show me you're Kouji Hayasaki and not some pathetic wimp!!" He yelled.

Kouji was slumped over on the floor, tears still pitifully flowing from his eyes. He let out a tiny squeak as he slowly raised his eyes to face the captain.

Dammit. How he hated that Kenpachi was right.

"_Is this all Kouji Hayasaki is?!"_

Yes. Yes!! That's all!! His immediate thoughts were. But somewhere deep inside there was the voice of himself yelling and screaming. _NO!! NO!! Kouji Hayasaki is much more than that!! _

Kouji closed his eyes for a moment. He felt the gaze of everyone in the room on him. He groaned. He complained. But he got up.

Kenpachi's glare never left him as Kouji painfully pulled his body up. It hurt, damn, it hurt!! As he pulled his weight up, he heard something. And he felt something in his arm. His eyes widened. Crap! Did his arm just _creak_??

Slowly, finally, Kenpachi's frightening glare that no-one would ever forget disappeared and was replaced with a slow satisfied smirk. His eyes were still hard and unforgiving, merciless, but his smile showed that he thought he was getting somewhere.

Kouji quaked with the pain and his arm was seriously wacked out. He couldn't even move his fingers on his right hand. Carefully he picked up the shinai he had dropped on the floor with his left hand, feeling every inch of his body ache as he did.

The wooden sword felt awkward and loose in his left hand but he gripped it as hard as he could. All his movements seemed so slow and painful.

"_Show me who he is!! Show me you're Kouji Hayasaki and not some pathetic wimp!!"_

Finally, Kenpachi got a glimpse of Kouji's eyes. He watched, smirking, as Kouji finally raised his head to stare back at Kenpachi, with equal fervor that Kenpachi had once had. Kenpachi grinned, a deep satisfied grin. He glared straight back at Kouji.

How had that boy managed to hide his eyes for so long? They were so intricate, so solemn and so determined. Kouji had clear, deep azure blue eyes that shone and stared so intently at Kenpachi. He had hidden these eyes from so many people behind his dark and murky-looking hair.

He had good eyes. Kenpachi smiled to himself.

Kouji ran for Kenpachi, swinging the sword in his left hand and focusing all his energy on this one strike. Kenpachi didn't move, nor make any action to dodge the incoming hit.

Kouji's sword came down heavily on Kenpachi's chest. Kouji's clear blue eyes were hardened as he felt the force he had dealt Kenpachi with. Kenpachi just smiled.

Suddenly, Kouji's eyes grew large and shocked, as he watched the shinai in his hands snap in two. Everyone else in the room's jaw dropped. Kenpachi was about as stiff and as solid as a brick wall!!

The wooden shinai broke and fell to the ground; the sound quickly followed by Kouji's weakened body crashing to the floor. The students stared, and Kenpachi grinned. Kouji couldn't move anymore. His broken arm ached and every part of his body was immobile.

Kenpachi turned away from Kouji. "Yachiru, go get Fourth Company."

"Hai, Kenny!!" Yachiru cried enthusiastically as she darted off.

Kenpachi sighed as he slowly started to leave. The other students were shocked at what they had just seen. Kenpachi turned his head and barked out to them, "Don't worry about him. He'll be fine."

Kouji's eyes were open but unseeing. All he could feel were Kenpachi's footsteps heading away.

"Kouji Hayasaki…" Kenpachi started, "What a great name…"

Then he declared out loud to the rest of the bewildered and stunned class as he left the room, "Class dismissed."

**Hurray!! Chapter 3 done!! Thankyou for reading!! Please review!! **


	4. You just wait and see!

I don't own Bleach

**I don't own Bleach!! Hiya! Thanks so much for all your reviews! They are so encouraging!! WOOHOO!! Here's chapter 4!! Please read and review! **

**Chapter 4: You just wait and see!! **

"He's broken two wooden shinai training swords so badly they can't be repaired!!"

"He broke a poor kid's _arm_!!"

"He disrespected the super-legendary iron swords that were _only for decoration_!!"

"He sent his whole class to Fourth Company for intensive care after the first lesson! They were all bruised, bleeding and dying!!"

"KENPACHI'S JUST NOT A TEACHER!!"

--

It had now been two and a half weeks since Kenpachi had started teaching his class. They had started off as a whole bunch of weak losers, with their moans and whining complaints. They had slunk around the back of the class and had no guts at all. But now…

Kenpachi and Yachiru stood at the front of the classroom, looking over the room. The twenty-two students were sitting up near the front, staring back intently at their teachers, with their confident grins bright on their faces.

They had certainly come a long way since they started. This class… once so pathetic and appallingly weak… now they were gutsy and confident and strong- at least stronger than they were before. Kenpachi felt Yachiru's weight shift on his shoulder. Yachiru grinned at Kenpachi and cried, "Hee! You make an awesome teacher, Ken-chan!!"

Kenpachi grunted in reply. But truthfully, he thought so too.

"Captain Zaraki!!" Haruki suddenly cried out. "What are we doin' today?"

Kenpachi opened his mouth to reply when suddenly the door next to him slid open with an enormously loud bang. Everyone in the room jumped with shock and surprise. Kenpachi and Yachiru turned to stare at whoever had burst into the room.

It was Captain-General Yamamoto and Captain Komamura. The two Eleventh Company captains stared at them.

Yamamoto said in his slow and mighty tone, "Captain Zaraki, we no longer have any need for you to teach this class. Captain Sajin Komamura will be taking over for you. Zaraki-taichou and Kusajishi-futaichou, you can leave immediately."

Kenpachi had no expression on his face. The huge man felt Yachiru tense on his shoulder. Kenpachi turned to look at the pink-haired girl and noticed that her face was screwed up and she was really upset.

The students in the classroom were silent as they regarded the stern bucket-wearing captain. They watched the two Eleventh Company captains standing to the side. The sotaichou turned away from the captains and disappeared out the doorway.

As soon as Yamamoto was gone, Yachiru jumped off Kenpachi's shoulder and started bawling. "Why, Kenny?! It's not fair!! Why does Koma-koma get to teach our class?? It was our class!! I don't want us to stop teaching them!!"

Kenpachi let out a slow sigh. "You know, Yachiru, you didn't actually teach them anything."

Yachiru let out a strangled sob. "But, Ken-chan, you liked teaching that class!! And you had fun!! I want you to keep enjoying yourself, Kenny!!"

Kenpachi was quiet for a moment. Yeah, at first he had his doubts, but Yachiru was right. He had really enjoyed beating up his class.

Yachiru glanced at Komamura and at the silent class. She tugged at Kenpachi's sleeve, scowling and with tears in her eyes. "You know you can get this class back, Kenny!! You just have to tell Koma-koma that it's your class, or fight him if you really need to! You know you'll win either way, so why not??"

Kenpachi looked over at the students staring at him so intently and hard. Haruki sat at the front of the class, his red eyes shining, but not with happiness. _What? _Kenpachi felt the class' scream at him. _You were just gonna beat us up and then teach us to get over our weakness? And then you were gonna leave us and abandon us just like that?? Is that what you intended to do?? _

Komamura stood at the front of the classroom, and like the class, was watching Kenpachi and Yachiru. Through the thin slits of his bucket headgear, he narrowed his eyes. Yachiru was standing next to Kenpachi, so short and tiny, her face full of sadness and eyes full of tears. Kenpachi was silent and expressionless as he stared back at his assistant captain.

He could feel everyone in the room staring at him, yet he still made no comment. The stares he felt hardest were Kouji's crystal blue ones and Haruki's hurt eyes. And of course there was Yachiru staring at him so intently with tears filling up.

Yet… this class… he had never wanted to teach. He had enjoyed himself and was actually impressed with how far this class had come, but… he reckoned it didn't matter anymore. Sometimes… being abandoned was the final lesson.

"Yachiru." Kenpachi said finally. Yachiru looked up at him.

The Eleventh Captain stepped towards the door. "We're leaving."

"What?!" Yachiru cried.

Kenpachi felt the class' react the same as Yachiru did.

Kenpachi picked up Yachiru and placed her on his shoulder. He walked out of the classroom, saying, loud enough for them all to hear. "I s'pose this is the last harsh lesson they'll have to bear."

Tears silently fell down Yachiru's face as she rested her head against Kenpachi's neck. Kenpachi didn't turn around or look back at the class. Instead he kept walking away.

--

"Captain Zaraki!!" Haruki's voice was loud and furious. The green-haired boy stood up abruptly and the chair behind him clattered to the ground.

His classmates and Komamura stared at him. Haruki looked pleadingly at Komamura. Giving in, the Seventh Company Captain sighed gently and said, "You may go."

Haruki nodded his thanks and started to push past the desks towards the door. Just before he got there, he paused by Kouji Hayasaki's desk. Kouji had his head down and his murky hair hiding his clear eyes again, shrinking back into his shell.

"Teh," Haruki muttered. "If you wanna come, then get a move on!!"

--

"CAPTAIN ZARAKI!!"

Kenpachi and Yachiru stopped. They heard footsteps beating towards them, faster and faster, accompanied by a voice that sounded like Haruki's.

They turned around and faced the two students breathing and panting hard from exhaustion. Kouji and Haruki looked up at them, staring furiously at them with their intense eyes.

Kenpachi gazed at them with a seemingly lazy stare. "What do you two want? We're not your teachers anymore."

"Why??" Haruki exploded. "Why would you do that?? As soon as you met us, you treated us like crap! You beat us up and pushed us to lengths that students our level could never achieve! You trained and taught us hard so that in every lesson we practically vomited blood!"

Kouji glanced at Haruki beside him. Haruki had tears building up in his eyes. The red-eyed boy wiped at an eye with his hand and glared up at Kenpachi. "You… were the best teacher, and I respected you more than anyone else!!"

Kenpachi and Yachiru watched Haruki carefully and quietly. Haruki's face was bowed down towards the ground and now tears were falling onto the ground shamelessly. Kouji stood near Haruki, supporting him and with tears in his own eyes.

"I knew, Captain Zaraki, that as soon as we met you, you'd be a tough teacher! And damn, I was so right! You beat us into pulp and that wasn't enough! But no matter how much it hurt or how bloody hard it was to get up again, I knew that you were making us stronger!! I knew… that you were putting us through hell so that one day we would be able to fight like it!! And so… I tried and struggled to become stronger and stronger!! Captain… I wanted…" Haruki stared up at Kenpachi, "I wanted to train under you for ever!!"

"Eh…" Yachiru murmured from a spot atop Kenpachi's shoulder. Her own tears had vanished and were now replaced with intrigue.

Haruki felt the tears on his face. He lowered his head once more and felt the hurt and anger of being abandoned by his most respected teacher flood over him again. He felt Kouji beside him place a hand comfortingly on his back.

Kouji breathed softly as if to pull himself together and then said, "I knew you weren't going to teach us forever and truthfully, I had been glad, because I was terrified of you. But… it's been a while now, and although you still scare the crap out of me, I noticed how much I had changed. Changed for the better, that is. And I still surprise myself at what I can now do…" Kouji stared down at his arm in the sling and said, "I realized that the way I've been acting up till now was so full of attitude and superiority and there was really no excuse for the pathetic whining loser I had become. And so, when I realized that, although you are a freak, Sensei, and you scare me senseless; I thought that I wanted you to keep teaching me, because I decided that I could change under your teaching."

Kenpachi stared down at the two students. Yachiru felt that Kenpachi needed time to think and process so much information, as the sentimental part of his brain could overload at any time. Yachiru felt the love she felt for her captain explode as she watched the two boys standing in front of her. She tilted her head to one side and said loudly, "Eh, Green-Hair and Broken-Arm! You really liked Ken-chan that much??"

Haruki stared at the assistant captain. Yachiru smirked. She knew that she was going to be doing Kenpachi's talking for him. "Well, I'm sorry but Kenny won't be teaching you anymore. He's exhausted with already having to put up with you brats for more than a week. He says you're gonna have to learn to handle being abandoned and dumped aside because it's gonna be worse in the future."

Yachiru saw the disheartened look on Haruki's face. She saw Kouji lower his head and hide behind the murky hair again. Yachiru sighed. Truthfully, inside she felt like crying too, but Ken-chan was always strong and so she would be too. The tiny pink-haired girl chuckled and then pasted a big grin on her face. "Heh! Just think of it as another lesson from Kenny! He wants you to treat it as your final class with him. If you can get through it and emerge stronger than before then he might treat you with respect next time!!"

Kouji and Haruki looked up suddenly at Yachiru's brighter and more hopeful tone. Haruki focused on Kenpachi's face but the Eleventh Captain turned and Haruki couldn't tell what he was thinking.

Kenpachi knew it was time to go. Darn, if he stayed any longer, he might actually start to care for his students of two-and-a-half weeks. The spiky-haired captained turned, without looking at either of his students and started walking off when Haruki suddenly yelled out at him.

"CAPTAIN ZARAKI!! B-before you go, please listen to what I have to say!!"

_Hm? _Kenpachi paused there, a distance from the two boys.

Haruki wiped away any tears he had before and stood up straight, finally feeling the strength and the courage he had gotten returning. Kouji straightened up as well, feeling his arm creak again.

"WE'RE GOING TO TRAIN, CAPTAIN!!" Haruki yelled out. The determined green-haired boy shouted again, louder than ever, "We're going to train out hearts out and we're going to graduate as the strongest shinigami in our class!! And then… AND THEN WE'LL BE WORTHY OF BEING IN ELEVENTH COMPANY!!"

Kenpachi was silent, but listening intently. Only Yachiru could see the satisfied grin stretch across his mouth.

Kouji stood beside Haruki, with the same firm look in his clear azure eyes, nodding and agreeing wholeheartedly with the louder boy.

They stared out at the back in front of them, seeing the distance between them, knowing that they would have to run and train and get stronger than ever to reach the captain standing so majestically in front of them.

Finally, Haruki screamed, "I PROMISE, CAPTAIN ZARAKI!! _We promise_!! WE'RE GOING TO MAKE IT TO YOUR COMPANY AND FIGHT UNDER YOU!! We're going to graduate!! We're going to be strong enough, proud enough and with the guts to be worthy of Eleventh Company!!"

Yachiru wrapped her arms around Kenpachi's shoulder and neck, doing the best she could to hug her beloved besty. Kenpachi felt Haruki's furiously determined voice pierce through him and he couldn't smile any harder.

"Y-you wait for us, Captain Zaraki!! We're going to meet you in the Gotei 13 one day!!" Haruki shouted. Even normally shy Kouji piped up and yelled with Haruki as they both screamed at Kenpachi and Yachiru. "YOU JUST WAIT AND SEE, CAPTAIN ZARAKI!!"

The two students stared out after the Captain, but he still said nothing, nor made any movement to turn around and lecture them. Haruki's bright red eyes and Kouji's piercingly clear blue eyes seemed to burn through Kenpachi. And then finally, they heard the Eleventh Captain's voice.

"Ha! Hahahaha!!" Kenpachi chuckled. He never did turn around and look at his former students. Instead he kept facing resolutely forward and started to walk away. But Haruki and Kouji heard him cry out, "Good luck with that!!" in his disbelieving tone.

And so the two eleventh company captains and the two students parted ways.

--

"What's so funny, Ken-chan?" Yachiru asked, curious about Kenpachi's soft chuckling as they walked back to their headquarters.

"Heh…" Kenpachi stared up at the sky and said, "Yachiru, do you think it's stupid of me to have become so attached to my students?"

Yachiru considered this, but shook her head spiritedly and told him, "Not at all! You see, I reckon… that you, Kenny, are the best teacher ever!!"

Kenpachi just laughed harder and Yachiru laughed along with him.

Kenpachi almost found tears of laughter in the corners of his eyes, but assured himself there weren't any. "That's a real load on nonsense!"

But Yachiru just grinned to herself. _Yeah, seriously. Kenpachi Zaraki, a teacher? Yeah right! _

**Well, that's the end of the first arc in my story!! I haven't done story arcs in my fanfiction since FFFD, and there were so many arcs in that one it drove me insane!! But I'm just so proud of this arc and how this fic has done so far!! Please review everyone!! And keep a look out for Haruki and Kouji!! I'm sure they'll be back some time in the future!! **

**Thankyou so much!! The story's not over so I hope you'll tune in again next week!! Thankyou!! emichii! **


	5. Crashing into Someone else's World!

Hey

**Hey!! Welcome to chapter five! I'm happy that so many to you liked the first story!! Thanks for all the support!! Well now, Yachiru and Kenny will embark on their journey to the Living World!! Hope you enjoy!! Please read and review!! **

**Chapter 5: Crashing into someone else's world! **

"Morning, Captain," Yumichika said as he stepped inside the Eleventh Company building. He felt Yachiru stare at him, and then he quickly added, "And good morning to you too, Assistant Captain!"

Yachiru grinned. Kenpachi said nothing.

Ikkaku sauntered in and leaned against the wall. The bald shinigami gazed at the two captains who were obviously ignoring the stack of paperwork on the desk. "So… Captain, what are you going to do now since you don't need to teach your class anymore?"

Kenpachi was quiet for a moment. Ikkaku raised an eyebrow, wondering if the captain had actually missed his students. Kenpachi leaned back into the chair and then said to Yachiru beside him, "What do you want to do?"

Yachiru sighed softly. She leaned her tiny frame against the giant Kenpachi, looked upwards in thought and then said, "Let's do something fun, Kenny."

Kenpachi stared with hollow eyes at the stack of paperwork. "Yeah," he replied.

"We should go pay Icchy a visit…" Yachiru murmured. It was just a passing thought at first but then, she brightened up and jumped up to her feet.

"Yeah, Kenny!! We should so go visit Icchy! It will be great fun!!" She cheered, "Besides, it will cheer you up!! You can have a rematch!!"

Ikkaku, Yumichika and Yachiru watched Kenpachi carefully. Kenpachi probably thought he was being all cool and calm as usual, but his closest subordinates could tell that he actually missed teaching his class and his students.

Finally, a grin spread over Kenpachi's mouth. Slowly, he agreed, "Okay. Let's do that."

Yumichika immediately said, "Wait, Captain! You're not allowed to just go off to the Living World without permission!!"

Ikkaku turned to Yumichika and said sharply under his breath, "You moron!! You know we have to let the Captain go! He's gotta cheer up!"

Yumichika realized the sense in Ikkaku's words. He also saw the desperate and upset look in Yachiru's eyes. He sighed and gave up. "Okay, Captain. Go to the Living World."

Kenpachi actually never needed Yumichika's permission, but he couldn't help smiling at Yumichika's reaction. Kenpachi let Yachiru run ahead of him outside of the building, waving her arms and crying, "C'mon!! Let's go, Ken-chan! Let's go!!"

As he passed his third and fifth seat officers, he said, "You should come too."

Maybe it had been the time he had spent with his class, but now he realized just how important his own officers under him were. They amused him and were crazy in their own different ways, but Kenpachi loved his Eleventh Company, and his group was precious. He didn't want to leave them behind anymore. He wanted them to keep following behind his own footsteps and be able to turn and smirk at them.

"Hurry up, Kenny!!" He heard Yachiru shout from further outside.

He said, "Are you comin' or not?"

Ikkaku was immediately behind him. "Heck yeah!! We're coming!!" He tightened his grip on his long sword and started to walk outside.

Yumichika seemed a bit more cautious with his answer. He sighed and followed Ikkaku. "Fine, I'll come."

Kenpachi smiled as he and his posse left the building, on their way to the Living World. Heh, maybe all along, Haruki and Kouji had always reminded him of Ikkaku and Yumichika.

--

"YEEAAAHHH!! WE'RE IN THE LIVING WORLD!!" Yachiru shouted happily as she burst through the senkai gate.

"Great. A field trip to the Living World with the Assistant Captain." Ikkaku said sarcastically.

Yachiru turned slowly to Ikkaku with a look of thunder in her eyes. Just at that moment, Kenpachi emerged from behind Ikkaku, closely followed by Yumichika. Yachiru immediately forgot her anger at Ikkaku and cheerfully ran and hugged one of Kenpachi's legs. "Ken-chan! Ken-chan! We're here!!"

Kenpachi couldn't help smiling back at Yachiru's cheerful bright face. He felt the pink-haired girl scramble onto his shoulder.

"Where should we go first, Kenny?? Can we go to Icchy's now??"

Kenpachi watched out of the corner of his eyes as he saw Yumichika and Ikkaku move away in a different direction. With a wave of an arm, Ikkaku said loudly, "Oi, Captain! Me and Yumichika are going off by ourselves! We'll see ya later!"

Kenpachi didn't reply, but his two seated officers knew that he consented.

As soon as Ikkaku and Yumichika were gone, Kenpachi stood next to a busy crowded street and took a long look at it. He could feel Yachiru's excited energy and he saw all the humans bustling along, all on their own ways. No-one could see him and Yachiru.

The humans had a lot of strange clothing and very bright garish colours. Darn, it was starting to hurt Kenpachi's eyes. Kenpachi turned and started to turn towards a small building nearby.

"Eh, where are we goin??" Yachiru chided.

"Urahara's." Kenpachi said simply.

--

They had gotten their gigais and some normal human clothing so that they could blend in with the crowd, but it wasn't working very well. As Kenpachi and Yachiru made their way down a busy street, the people stared at them and quickly moved past to let them through.

"Eh?" Yachiru wondered why all the other people were staring at them with such disbelief and wariness in their eyes.

Kenpachi was also clueless as to why the people acted so strange, skirting around the two shinigami, glancing at them nervously when they thought Kenpachi wasn't looking.

The people stared at them, fear rising up in their throats. They saw this huge man with a brutal looking scar stretching over his face. He was wearing huge black boots and a long dark gray jacket. His pants were baggy and black, with chains dangling from them. He had… the scariest hair style they had ever seen. His hair was sticking up in spikes, and there were bells hanging from the ends!! Bells!!

He was such a scary guy that sent shivers down everyone's spine. But they couldn't help thinking that he must be a real freak what with his hairstyle and the scary expression on his face. And then… to confuse them even more… he carried a little girl on his shoulder!!

The tiny girl had pink hair and a bright grin on her face. She sat on the guy's shoulder, and she laughed with a light tinkly laughter. She looked like a preschooler and yet she wasn't the least bit afraid of the man's scary presence. She wore a red shirt with a picture of Chappy the rabbit on it, and blue shorts. She had runners and long stripy socks.

_Why?? _They all wondered with their mouths dropping open. _Why was the big scary man carrying around a little pink-haired preschooler?? _

Kenpachi just shrugged and went on his way. Yachiru kept clinging onto his shoulder and watching curiously at the passerbys.

"Hey, Kenny?" Yachiru piped up.

Kenpachi grunted in reply.

Yachiru tilted her head to the side and frowned slightly at the surroundings. "Do you actually know where Icchy's house is?"

--

"So, what's this?" Kenpachi frowned at the strange looking device.

Yachiru looked at the curious thing. "I think it's a doorbell, Kenny."

"What do we do with it?"

Yachiru looked around at the other houses in the street. "I think you're meant to ring it."

"How do you do that?" Kenpachi glared at the button on the side of the door. "Do we just push it?"

--

BING BONG BING BONG BANG BUNG BONG!!

Rukia just about fell off the shelf in Ichigo's closet. She sat up and glared at Ichigo. "What was that??"

Ichigo groaned in annoyance as he got up from his desk to answer the door. "It's the new doorbell my dad installed yesterday. I have so got to get rid of that ridiculous thing!"

Just as Ichigo was leaving his room, the doorbell rang again, but this time the sound seemed a lot different from before.

BING BONG BONG CRACK- CRACK! - BANG!! CRASH!! –CRUNCH!

It was followed by the sound of something crashing to the ground that sounded a little like bits of metal and plastic. Ichigo could also hear someone grunting and complaining from outside.

Ichigo rushed down the stairs and flung open the door about to start yelling at whoever it was for making all the noise. However, he stared at whoever was on the doorstep and his mouth dropped open.

"ICCHY!!" Yachiru cried in delight.

"Ichigo!" Kenpachi stared at him with his terrifying smile stretched over his mouth and a glint in his eyes. "Let's fight!!"

Ichigo finally found his voice. "NO! WHAT?? What are you two doing here?? And… and why are you dressed like some gangster, Kenpachi?!" He shouted at the top of his lungs.

"By the way, Icchy, we need somewhere to stay during our visit…" Yachiru started.

"NO!! NOOO!! No way are you two staying here!!" Ichigo yelled.

From upstairs, Rukia could hear all the noise and shouting from downstairs. She rolled her eyes and grumbled as she hopped out of the closet and made her way down to check out what all the commotion was.

"AAGH!! C-Captain Zaraki!! Assistant Captain Kusajishi!! What are you guys doing here??" Her reaction was similar to Ichigo's.

"Eh hee!!" Yachiru giggled. "We're here to visit Icchy!!"

"NO!! GO BACK TO SOUL SOCIETY!!" Ichigo shouted. "You guys are going to freak out all the normal people who live around here!!"

"Aww… Icchy, you're no fun!! And you seem even more annoyed than last time we saw you!!" Yachiru leaped off Kenpachi's shoulder and onto Ichigo's face, planting him firmly into the ground. "If you keep frowning like that, you're going to forget how to smile!!"

The pink-haired nuisance sat on top of Ichigo's chest and grabbed the corners of his mouth, stretching them upwards and out. "See, see, Icchy!! This is how you're supposed to look-"

"GAAAHH!! GET OFF ME!!" Ichigo screamed, trying to pry the girl from his face and failing as Yachiru gripped on tighter and Ichigo paled as he watched his face stretch.

"I-Ichigo…" Rukia started, trying to say something and get the situation under some sort of control. Suddenly she noticed that Kenpachi had pulled out his sword and was waving it this way and that, admiring its rusty, old but still sharp as blade.

"Captain Zaraki!!" Rukia cried out, turning away from Ichigo. "You can't carry around a sword and wave it around like that in this world!!"

Ichigo struggled with Yachiru and then he heard footsteps from outside the door. He started to panic! Karin was home!! He heard the footsteps grow louder.

The door swung open, and Ichigo's younger soccer-playing sister stepped inside, frowning and saying, "Why's the doorbell broken, Ichi-" Karin stopped and gaped at the scene.

There was Ichigo lying helpless on the ground with a preschooler sitting on top of him, wrestling with his mouth!! And Rukia shouting at some massive guy dressed like a gangster who was waving around a _bare sword_!!

Ichigo had no explanation. He watched as Karin's face paled. The black-haired girl obviously knew how to keep in control although right now she was doubting her eyesight. Karin carefully closed the door and stepped neatly around Kenpachi.

"Ichi-nii…" She started, staring at him cynically and disbelievingly as always, "You're a freak."

_You and your friends…_ Karin thought to herself as sweat was on her forehead. She quickly left the hallway.

"So, Ichigo? Can we fight now??" Kenpachi said impatiently, ignoring Rukia's shouts telling him to put away his sword.

Ichigo felt anger and annoyance grow and start to explode. He grabbed Yachiru and threw her off him. Yachiru bumped into Kenpachi and looked confused.

"NOO!!" The orange-haired shinigami substitute yelled. "NOOO!! GET OUT OF HERE!!"

But he knew Kenpachi and Yachiru had no thoughts to leave. Ichigo thought sarcastically with gritted teeth, _Thanks so much for crashing into my world!! _

**Heh heh! It's been a while since I wrote about Karin. She's so cool! I can't wait till I get to write about her again! Anyway, well, now Kenpachi and his posse have crashed into the Living World!! Hee!! Stay tuned for the next chapter!! Read and review! **


	6. A Holiday for Sissies

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach!! **

**Yo all!! How ya going?? Welcome to the sixth chapter!! I wanna thank each and every one of you for your continued support and reviews!! Thankyou very much!! It's the holidays so I promise to do my very best!! Read and review!! **

**Chapter 6: A Holiday for Sissies **

"Hey, hey, Chubby Chest!!"

Orihime's eyes widened in shock as the pink-haired shinigami burst through the open door and jumped on to her shoulders. Orihime struggled to stand up and then collapsed onto the floor.

"We need a place to stay during our visit, Chubby Chest!!" Yachiru cried.

"S-sure… Yachiru…" Orihime murmured as she sat up. She stared at the huge Captain towering over her, standing in the doorway. Orihime grimaced. "H-hi Mr Zaraki…"

--

Kenpachi went off in the morning so that he could bug Ichigo about a fight. He didn't want to leave Yachiru behind but he figured maybe it would be okay since Yachiru quite liked Orihime.

"Don't get yourself in trouble, Yachiru. I'll be back later." He said.

"Okay!! Beat up Icchy real good, okay, Kenny??"

Kenpachi nodded his reply and disappeared out the door.

Yachiru watched as her beloved Captain walked off from the window. She turned around to face Orihime who was slinging a handbag over her shoulder.

"Do you know what day it is today, Yachiru?" She asked.

Yachiru shook her head so hard Orihime thought it was going to fall off. Orihime smiled and a faint blush spread over her face. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes for a second. "Today is Valentine's Day!"

"Eh?" Yachiru raised an eyebrow, obviously not knowing what it was.

Orihime giggled, grabbed Yachiru by the hand and lead her out the door. "It's a really special holiday, so I'm going to have to go shopping."

Yachiru blinked. "Okkaaayyyy…" she muttered.

--

Yachiru went with Orihime to the shopping centre and stared around at the brightly coloured shops with their flashing lights and many people crowding around and bustling here and there. She smelt food in all different directions and her mouth watered. She noticed that most of the people there were divided into pairs or couples- a boy and a girl. Yachiru didn't get it so she shrugged it off.

She followed Orihime as the orange-haired girl walked and stopped at various stores looking at all that was girly and beautiful. Orihime stopped to smell flowers at the florist and looked at all the stuff at the gift shops.

However, Orihime didn't buy anything. They stopped for morning tea at a café somewhere. Orihime sat across from Yachiru who was poking at the frothy white stuff in her hot chocolate.

"Chubby Chest," Yachiru said, with white froth all over her mouth, "What is this whole holiday thing about?"

Orihime looked all daydreamy and in a daze as she sighed lightly and looked off into the distance. "It's a day that lovers spend together. And also… you give gifts to the person you love."

As soon as Orihime said that, Yachiru thought of Kenpachi. Yachiru grinned brightly. In that case, she figured, she would have to buy something for Ken-chan!!

Oh… but she thought, she had no money. Orihime watched the varying expressions on Yachiru's face. Orihime giggled. "It's okay! I'll give you some money."

Yachiru smiled happily and slurped up hot chocolate from her cup. Darn, this tasted good!! You couldn't get this in Soul Society! It was like drinking actual chocolate!! Suddenly, she put her cup back down abruptly.

"So, who are you going to buy something for??" Yachiru asked.

Orihime lowered her gaze and blushed. "I wanted to get something for Kurosaki-kun… but I don't think he'll accept it."

Yachiru got confused. What was Chubby Chest talking about? Seriously!! If someone gave you chocolate, you ate it! If someone gave you a present, you took it!! What on earth was she going on about?

Orihime just laughed at Yachiru's confusion. Orihime got up from her seat. "Come on, let's go!"

Yachiru jumped off her seat and followed her.

--

Yachiru and Orihime were in a shop that sold everything, from soft toys to kitchen appliances. Orihime stood in front of a shelf, frowning at the things. Yachiru stood back and sighed with boredom.

"Ah! Inoue-san!"

Yachiru heard Rukia's voice. She saw that Rukia was hugging a Chappy the Rabbit plushie to herself and talking to Orihime.

"Kuchiki-san," Orihime said, "How are you?"

Rukia smiled. "I'm cool." She looked at Orihime suspiciously, "What are you buying for Ichigo?"

Orihime turned bright red. "I-I-I don't know yet!!"

Rukia shrugged. She smiled and held up the Chappy the Rabbit plush toy. "I'm gonna give him this!"

Orihime sweat-dropped. "Really?"

Rukia laughed. "Honestly! You humans and your random present-giving holidays!! I reckon you should just give something you like yourself!"

Orihime smiled tightly. _You really don't get this holiday; do you, Kuchiki-san? _

Rukia laughed mercilessly. "He can have nightmares about Chappy the Rabbit every time he sees it!! Mwahahaha!!" She took the stuffed rabbit to the counter to pay for it.

Orihime wondered why Yachiru was so quiet, so she turned around to check on her. To her surprise and worry, Yachiru was not standing where she was before!!

--

The people were curious about the preschooler skipping around the shopping centre, looking excited. She had a couple of dollars clutched in her tiny hand and she seemed excited about it. What was she gonna get Ken-chan??

Yachiru had heard what Rukia said about giving something you like yourself as a present. So she sped towards the shop that sold lollies and her favourite sweets. The Living World had the biggest variety of sweets and chocolate!! Yachiru was delighted.

She figured she would buy Kenpachi chocolate and then hurry up and give it to him before it melted. Yachiru was happy when she held the present in her hands and rushed off to find Kenpachi. However, she was torn when she smelt the delicious chocolate smell and told herself Ken-chan wouldn't mind if she just had a tiny nibble. But she angrily scolded herself for being so greedy.

She got back to Orihime's place and climbed through an open window. Kenpachi was not back yet! She saw that Ikkaku and Yumichika were sitting in Orihime's living room, also waiting for Kenpachi to return. Yachiru hadn't seen them for a couple of days since they were living at someone else's house.

"Pachinko ball!!" She cried in delight.

Ikkaku frowned at the assistant captain. "The Captain is probably still at Ichigo's house. Maybe you should look for him there."

"Okay!!" Yachiru put down the chocolate on the kitchen bench and left at top speed to find Kenpachi.

--

"Kenny!!" Yachiru came running down the street at top speed and crashed into Kenpachi. Kenpachi turned and saw his little assistant captain. Yachiru grinned at him. Out of all the people she tried to bowl over, he was the only one who didn't fall over.

"Did you have fun, Kenny?" she asked.

Kenpachi smirked. "Ichigo didn't want to fight today. But it's okay, 'cause I'll beat his sorry body into a pulp tomorrow."

Yachiru smiled. "Hey, hey, Ken-chan, what do you think of Valentine's Day?"

Kenpachi didn't miss a beat. "It's crap."

"Eh?" Yachiru frowned.

"It's lame. It's a holiday for sissies."

Kenpachi felt Yachiru tense on his shoulder. Yachiru darkened in anger.

"Yachiru?" he wondered.

"Fine." She muttered. "It's a holiday for sissies. I know."

Kenpachi was surprised when the tiny girl suddenly leapt of his shoulder and ran off. He was so confused and weirded out. Yachiru never acted like this. And Yachiru never got angry with him.

Kenpachi returned to Orihime's place and frowned at the two officers seated on the floor. "Ikkaku, Yumichika, what did I do to make Yachiru angry?" he wondered.

"Eh? What did you say to her, Captain?" Ikkaku asked.

Kenpachi looked clueless. "I just said that Valentine's Day was for sissies."

Yumichika shook his head gently. "Then that was probably why she ran off."

"What??" Kenpachi cried. "That doesn't make sense!! Why would she give a damn about some lame human holiday??"

Yumichika sighed in his delicate way. "She probably heard about it from Orihime." He pointed towards the kitchen bench. "Look over there."

Kenpachi grumbled as he wandered over towards the kitchen. He stared at something in a blue paper bag. There was a piece of paper lying on top. Kenpachi frowned as he looked at the childish handwriting that sprawled all over the paper.

_To Kenny!!_

_Happy Valentine's Day!! _

_Love Yachiru!! _

After the message was a bad drawing of Kenpachi and his spiky hairstyle sticking up in different directions. There was a tiny scribble of a girl perched on his shoulder.

Kenpachi's eyes widened.

Ikkaku said nothing. Yumichika spoke instead. "She got you a present,"

Kenpachi frowned hard as he lowered his gaze to the floor. "Ah… I should get her something too…"

He turned towards his subordinates. "I'll get her some candy somewhere, but I don't have any money…" He looked worried.

Ikkaku hid a heavy sigh with a small smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out some money. Handing the strange Japanese currency to Kenpachi, he grinned and said, "I'm a step ahead of ya, Captain."

--

Yachiru stuck her tongue out in irritation as she wandered through the park. Nearby was a field where a bunch of kids were playing soccer. She looked around her and saw all the people that were getting along so well with their friends.

Yachiru scowled as she thought of Kenpachi. _Ken-chan's an idiot! _She thought to herself. However, although she was trying her best to stay mad at him, she couldn't help smiling as she thought of her best friend. Yachiru was so fond of him she just couldn't stay angry at him for that long.

The pink haired assistant captain shrugged and turned back towards Orihime's place. She skipped a couple of steps in that direction and told herself: _Well, Kenny didn't know I bought a present for him so I guess its okay. _

Yachiru nodded as she agreed with her reasoning. _Yeah, I should probably get back now. _

She was rushing off when she thought she heard a scream from somewhere behind her. Yachiru turned and saw the group of soccer players looking around in confusion and yelling at each other. One of the soccer players was yelling louder than the others and the others frowned and started to move away. Suddenly, they all heard a weird growl and ran off in different directions.

Yachiru tilted her head to the side as she wondered what was going on. Suddenly she heard a bloodcurdling howl.

_It's a Hollow! _She turned towards the thing, a huge grey coloured beast of a Hollow. Yachiru frowned. Huh. She had forgotten. What was she meant to do to get out of this gigai again??

The Hollow was hungry obviously. It howled again and swung a huge lumpy arm at Yachiru. Yachiru stuck out her tongue at the Hollow and easily jumped over the arm. She was trying to figure out how to get out of the gigai. The Hollow was angry at having missed. It charged towards Yachiru at full speed. Yachiru saw the Hollow coming and gave it a kick in the face. "Can't you see I'm thinking??" she said.

The kick wasn't enough to do the Hollow any damage, but it did push the Hollow back further away. The Hollow got back up and ran even faster and full of anger at the tiny girl.

"Oh that's it!! I gotta take one of those gi-kon-gan-thingies!!" Yachiru realized. She was impressed with herself for remembering. Yachiru dug through on of her pockets, searching for them.

While Yachiru wasn't paying attention, the Hollow took a huge step forward towards her. It swung a huge arm at the girl and was about to grab the unsuspecting Yachiru, when suddenly it was interrupted.

The sound of a soccer ball hitting the Hollow's face startled Yachiru. Swallowing the pill, Yachiru took her shinigami form and burst out of the gigai. She immediately turned and was stunned at how close she had been from becoming Hollow food.

A girl with short black hair that was messed up from running around so much was standing close by. She had a soccer ball at her feet and had a humongous frown on her face as she stared at the Hollow which was crying with pain, but not vanishing.

"Darn… this one's stronger than the normal ones…" she muttered.

Then she turned to Yachiru and called, "You were almost eaten there!!"

"Ah!" Karin stared at Yachiru. "You're one of Ichi-nii's freaky friends from yesterday!!" Karin gazed at the tiny pink-haired girl in the black shihakusho carrying a sword in a sheath that had training wheels attached to it.

"Hey… you're a soul reaper as well," she said.

"Yeah, that's right!!" Yachiru agreed. While Karin and Yachiru were distracted, the Hollow came towards them. They suddenly realized this but had no time to take action.

Kenpachi came running down the street from around the corner. In a flash, he was out of his gigai and his soul reaper form was darting into the air, whipping out his battered sword from its sheath.

"Aah!!" Karin stared in wonder as the spiky-haired shinigami leapt through the air towards the Hollow.

"Kenny!!" Yachiru squealed in happiness at the arrival of her dearest friend.

Kenpachi raised his sword and bought it down, cleanly slicing the mask in half. Although the Hollow was so easily defeated, Kenpachi couldn't help but keep swinging his sword and brutally slicing up the Hollow. The Hollow shrieked with agony and then dispersed into lots of tiny pieces.

Karin was totally amazed by the way Kenpachi completely kicked the Hollow's butt. Her mouth was wide as she watched the Hollow vanish. She turned towards Kenpachi and Yachiru and cried out, "Wow, that was awesome!!"

Yachiru grinned, because she already knew wholeheartedly that Kenpachi was definitely awesome. Karin picked up the soccer ball lying at her feet and turned to leave. She ran off in excitement to Urahara Shoten so she could tell Jinta and Ururu what she had seen.

_Heh. _She grinned to no-one in particular. _Ichi-nii's freaky friends are actually kinda cool…_

--

"Kenny…" Yachiru lowered her head. She couldn't help feeling a little awkward around him now. "About before…"

Kenpachi just sighed and gave her a smirk. "Don't worry about it. You don't need to say anything about it."

Yachiru relaxed and grinned up at her tall friend. Kenpachi dug around in his pocket and pulled out a white paper bag that was tied at the top with a white ribbon. He lowered the bag into Yachiru's hands and told her, "Here ya go."

"Eh?" Yachiru stared down at the bag. "What's this?"

Kenpachi smiled to himself as he turned to walk away. "A present."

Yachiru's face brightened. She untied the ribbon and peered inside the small bag. "Ken-chan!! These are like the yummy sweets that Bya-kun sometimes gives me!!"

_Heh. You should know he gives them to you to get you to shut up. _Kenpachi smirked.

Yachiru immediately shoved a white bun-type-sweet-thing into her mouth and chewed enthusiastically. She ran to catch up to Kenpachi. She clambered up onto Kenpachi's shoulders and sat there, one hand hanging onto Kenpachi and the other one holding tightly on to the precious present she had received from him.

They moved down the street together in silence for a while.

Then Yachiru spoke up. "Ya know what, Ken-chan?"

"What, Yachiru?"

Yachiru smiled. "I love you!!"

Kenpachi didn't look at her, but Yachiru could see the smile on his lips as he replied in a murmur. "Yeah. I know."

**Hee hee!! I've had this idea for a long time but finally I've been able to put it down. I reckon this was a pretty good chapter, I just didn't like the beginning too much. Dammit, if I write any more stupid sappy Orihime stuff, I'm going to vomit!! It annoys me even having to write one-sided IchiHime!! It's gotta be IchiRuki, I tell ya, ICHIRUKI!! Therefore, I will try not to unnecessarily put in anything else about Orihime liking Ichigo. I think that Valentine's Day stuff is enough for the rest of my life, thankyou very much. **

**Personally, I also think that Valentine's Day is a holiday for sissies. What a waste of time. No offense if you yourself don't agree with me. You're entitled to your own opinion. **

**ANYWAY, thankyou for reading!! Please review!! And stay tuned for the next chapter! It's called The Trouble with Gikongan. From emichii!! **


	7. The Trouble with Gikongan

Hello

**Hello!! Welcome to Kenny and Yachiru's Soul reaping Adventures!! Hope ya like this next chapter!! I've put Yoruichi in this chapter especially for that reader who asked for her! Please note I don't own Bleach, okkaaaayyyy?? **

**Chapter 7: The Trouble with Gikongan**

"You know, Rukia, you have your own bed now. You don't have to stay in my closet." Ichigo muttered.

Rukia sat on the shelf in Ichigo's closet. "Yeah, well I like this place better."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. Suddenly they both heard loud thumping from outside and felt incredibly large spiritual pressure looming over the house. Both their faces paled. Kenpachi was back!! And it seemed this time he wasn't about to go away without a fight!!

"ICHIGO!! FIGHT ME!! STOP BEING A WHINING LITTLE WUSS AND FIGHT ME LIKE A MAN!!" Kenpachi's loud voice burst through the front door of the Kurosaki home.

"…maybe you should give him the fight he wants so much." Rukia said.

Ichigo stared at her.

"What?? I'm being serious!!" She retorted.

Ichigo grumbled in annoyance as he got off his bed. "Ah… what the heck."

Rukia smiled to herself as she hopped off the closet and followed Ichigo to the door.

When the door opened with a loud bang, Ichigo immediately said, "Okay, okay!! I'll fight you!! But make it short!!"

Kenpachi stared intensely at him. "Why would you wanna make it short?? That'd be no fun!!"

Ichigo's anger deepened. "I don't care!! And if we're gonna fight, we're not fighting here!! We'll have to go to the place under Urahara Shoten."

"Okay…" Kenpachi agreed.

With a huge scowl on his face, Ichigo stormed off to Urahara Shoten, and Rukia followed with a cheeky grin. Kenpachi followed them both.

--

"Hey, it's Ichi-nii." Karin looked up. She was inside Urahara Shoten, talking (arguing) with Jinta. Ururu was sweeping up with a broom.

"Why, hello, Mr Kurosaki!! What brings you here?" Urahara said, waving his little fan with flourish. He bowed deeply to Rukia and raised an eyebrow at Kenpachi.

"Kenpachi won't leave me alone about fighting me, so I'm fighting him here under Urahara Shoten!!" Ichigo shouted.

Yoruichi (cat) was sitting on the pavement. "Well, I'd like to see this fight."

"Oh yes! Me too!" Urahara agreed, still waving his fan.

"Ooh!! Yeah!! Let's all watch Kenpachi kick Ichigo's butt!!" Jinta cried.

Ururu nodded. "Okay…"

Ichigo gritted his teeth and sent a side-glance at Rukia, who shrugged. Somehow he had ended up with some unwanted spectators.

--

In the barren desert-like training area under Urahara Shoten, Ichigo in his shinigami form, held out Zangetsu and stared hard at Kenpachi.

Rukia dragged Ichigo's lifeless body out of the way. Kenpachi swallowed a gikongan and burst out of his gigai. The gigai looked around in confusion. Kenpachi growled, "Get outta the way!!"

"Uhh… okay." Kenpachi's gigai nodded and sped away.

Ichigo ran forward and swinging Zangetsu, attacked Kenpachi. Kenpachi held up his old and battered sword to fend off the strike. Ichigo scowled at Kenpachi. He never stopped wondering why Kenpachi's sword was so old and mistreated, yet never seemed to stop being able to block off his sword.

They fell away from each other, both gripping their swords tightly. Kenpachi ran forward and went wild with a series of extremely fast swings and strikes, every one of them closer and closer to striking a vital spot on Ichigo's body. Ichigo bit his lip as he struggled to move his huge sword fast enough to parry Kenpachi's attacks.

Kenpachi grinned hard, with the pleasure of his beloved fighting. He went faster still; waving his sword at such speed no-one else would be able to control it. Ichigo braced himself as he held out Zangetsu in front of him to protect him as best as he could. Ichigo rushed forward into the tirade of attacks. Kenpachi's eyes widened at Ichigo's idiotic move.

But Ichigo, immune to Kenpachi's fast strikes, moved forward so that he was right in front of Kenpachi. Ichigo darted up and then swung his sword straight at Kenpachi's chest. Kenpachi had no time to react, since his sword was not close enough to block Ichigo's cut. A huge gash spread across Kenpachi's chest and blood spurted out in such a huge amount that Ichigo got it splashed over his shoulder.

Not even a flash of pain crossed Kenpachi's eyes. Instead, his smirk deepened and he laughed out loud manically. Ichigo's face whitened and sweat ran down his face. He was never going to get used to Kenpachi's crazy thirst for fighting.

"WHOA!!" Jinta cried out. "Did you see that?? Kenpachi didn't even feel pain!!"

"Yeah, I know!! Fully sick!! How cool is he??" Karin added enthusiastically.

Ichigo frowned angrily and cried out, "Karin!! You're supposed to be on my side!!"

At this, Rukia burst out laughing. She struggled to hide it, but her shaking shoulders gave it away. Ichigo narrowed his eyes, and tightened his grip on his sword. Kenpachi's blood was spilling out all over the floor and Kenpachi just grinned at the gory scene on the ground.

"Fantastic! That was a great hit!!" Kenpachi growled.

Ichigo shivered at the thought of Kenpachi's blood splattered all over his own shoulder. He tried to ignore the stench of blood so close to him and ran for Kenpachi again. Kenpachi didn't move. Ichigo ran forward, faster and faster, and then rose his sword up so that he could get a really deep cut. As Zangetsu came down, all Ichigo could see before the explosion was Kenpachi's teeth as they showed in his wide grin.

It happened so fast that none of the spectators could tell what had just happened. They just heard Ichigo yell out as there was an explosion and dust and dirt went bursting into the air.

When the dust died down, Ichigo was on the ground, getting up and wiping blood from his face. Ichigo rose to his feet. A cut was going across his face and blood was dripping onto his lip. He licked the blood from his mouth and his glare darkened.

Scratches and bruises were all over him from his heavy fall into the ground, but that was nothing.

What happened was that when Ichigo came down, Kenpachi swiftly blocked with his sword and held his stance so well that Ichigo couldn't go anywhere but back. Then, Kenpachi pushed his force forward, and with the effort that Ichigo had tried to deal him, sent Ichigo flying back at a huge speed so that he crashed into the ground with a explosion of dirt and dust.

"It's nice to see you've been training too," Ichigo murmured as blood kept running from his forehead.

Kenpachi grinned. "That was just warm-up. I haven't even started yet."

With Karin and Jinta sitting at the side, looking so excited, Ichigo had a feeling that Kenpachi had more fans then he did at the moment.

He shot a death glare at Rukia who was standing beside Jinta. She looked at him innocently.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes. Rukia just laughed.

When Ichigo returned his gaze to Kenpachi, he wasn't there! Ichigo's jaw dropped. Suddenly, he felt Kenpachi's heavy pressure so close to him he thought he was going to be buried. Whirling around as fast as he could, Ichigo only just managed to protect himself from a slash coming from Kenpachi's sword.

Kenpachi never stopped smiling. Ichigo struggled to hold his stance still as Kenpachi's strength against his own pushed him back. Ichigo gritted his teeth with fury. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Karin, Jinta and Ururu. He felt a bit pissed that Karin was cheering for Kenpachi.

He could also see Rukia grinning mischievously. Grunting, he gripped his sword so tight his knuckles turned white. Ichigo held his sword and threw his weight against it and tried to push Kenpachi and his sword back. It was hard, because of Kenpachi's huge figure and his great strength, but eventually Ichigo thought he felt Kenpachi giving.

Ichigo flung his sword harder against Kenpachi's. Kenpachi felt his feet slide backwards. He needed to step out to stop himself from falling. Suddenly, Ichigo raised his sword and sent it slashing down onto Kenpachi again.

--

Kenpachi's gigai wandered down the streets of Karakura. He was confused. So his master had told him to get out of the way, but now where was he meant to go?

Kenpachi's gigai shrugged as he sauntered down the street. Hey, well, now that he had this gigai to himself, then he should do something with it, right. Slowly, a sly smirk spread across the gigai's face.

People couldn't help staring at the tall man in the dark clothing and the weird hairstyle. They shivered at his cunning grin. There was a group of girls walking past and chatting loudly. As soon as Kenpachi's gigai walked past them, they stopped their talking immediately and stared.

However, Kenpachi's face turned toward them and greeted them with a charming smile. "Good morning, ladies." he said smoothly.

Immediately, the weirded out expressions on their faces disappeared and the girls blushed bright red. They whispered excitedly among themselves as they walked on, some of them looking back to peek at Kenpachi.

_Heh. _Kenpachi (gigai) shook his head with a satisfied smirk. That's right. No matter what body he was in, he could always capture people's hearts with his charismatic smile. _Okay. _Kenpachi walked off resolutely down the street. _What should I do now? _

--

"Five bucks on Kenpachi!!" Urahara said loudly.

"Okay!! Five bucks on Ichigo!!" Yoruichi replied.

The two best friends sat near the door to Urahara Shoten. They were busy watching the fight between Ichigo and Kenpachi.

Kenpachi stood a couple of steps away from Ichigo, soaking in the delight of being hacked apart and having blood dripping from all over him. He didn't stop grinning. Ichigo's annoyed face amused him. Kenpachi had a passing thought as he charged for Ichigo that he wished Yachiru was here so that she could see him beat up Ichigo.

--

Kenpachi (gigai) ran into Orihime. She was surprised to see him. "M-Mr Zaraki!! What are you doing here? I thought you were fighting Kurosaki-kun!"

The gigai smiled smugly. "Oh no, I find it much more fun being here with you…" He said charmingly, gently holding one of Orihime's hands.

Orihime stared at Kenpachi with wide eyes. She had no idea the crazy eleventh company captain could be so gentle and charming. Her face flushed bright red and she felt uncomfortable as she replied, "Uh… oh… right."

"CAPTAIN!!" The fake Kenpachi turned around to face the voice. Ikkaku was standing behind him shouting, "Eh? That was fast!! Did you totally kick Ichigo's arse or did you kick his arse??"

Suddenly, Ikkaku's jaw dropped. "Captain!! Why the heck are you holding Orihime's hand??"

Kenpachi (gigai) looked at him quizzically. "Excuse me, gentleman, who might you be?"

"WHHHAAAAAATT??" Ikkaku screamed. "How could you forget me?? I'm the best man under you!!"

"Ah… ah…!" Orihime looked back and forth between Ikkaku and Kenpachi.

Kenpachi's gigai had raised eyebrow. "What are you talking about, you bald man?"

Ikkaku snapped. His face was dark with anger and he was silent as he slowly drew a sword from his waist. "All right," he murmured. "Who are you and what have you done with the Captain?!" Ikkaku screamed out the last part of the question and darted out, swinging the sword.

There were gasps and screams as the bald man pulled out his sword and leapt towards the spiky-haired man. The passer-bys and onlookers gaped. Orihime panicked. She tried to talk some sense into Ikkaku, but no-one was listening.

Kenpachi (gigai) had a feeling he was going to be busted so he tore down the street at top speed, quite pleased at how fit Kenpachi's body was.

Ikkaku yelled out a battle cry and raced down the street after Kenpachi, brandishing his sword.

Far behind them were cries from Orihime, "No!! Wait!! M-Madarame-san!! You can't carry swords around here!!"

--

Kenpachi's gigai looked behind him to see how far Ikkaku was behind him. He smirked to himself. Ha! No-one could measure up to Kenpachi's super-fit super-strong body!! No-one could catch him!!

The fake Kenpachi slowed down to an easy walk. He smiled to himself satisfied. Suddenly, he heard footsteps, growing louder and louder and faster as they came closer to him.

"KEN-CHHAAAANN!!"

He was panicked as he quickly turned. A tiny pink-haired girl was racing up to him, waving her arms and grinning at him, as she cried out, "Kenny!! You're here!! How did the fight go??"

Kenpachi (gigai) faked a grin, trying to make it as much like Kenpachi's actual smirk. "Err… good?"

Yachiru shouted, "HURRAAAYY!!" Yachiru took a run-up and then leapt up straight onto Kenpachi's shoulder.

Kenpachi (gigai, obviously) panicked. "What are you doing??" He hurriedly swiped at Yachiru with his hand. "Get off!! Get off!!"

Yachiru landed neatly on the ground again. She stared up at Kenpachi with wide eyes and a hurt look on her face. "Ken-chan… why…?" Tears gathered in her eyes as she gazed up at Kenpachi. "Kenny…" she sobbed as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She glared up at the fake Kenpachi and yelled, "YOU'RE NOT KENNY!! YOU'RE AN IMPOSTER!!"

Kenpachi gulped as he turned back the way him came and ran for his life. Yachiru was furious. "You're a fake!! A fake!! Where's the real Ken-chan!!" Yachiru gave chase, and although Kenpachi was super fast, Yachiru was incredibly speedy. She flew after Kenpachi, with her sword in its wheeled scabbard trailing after her.

"What did you do with Kenny?! Where is he?? Gimme Kenny back!! Give him back!!" Yachiru shouted, as she whipped out her zanpakuto from its sheath and leapt up into the air, waving it around crazily. Her eyes were wide and huge animosity and hatred spilled from them as she glared at him.

As Kenpachi (gigai!!) ran for his life, the crazy Yachiru raced after him. And then from around the corner Ikkaku appeared, also waving his sword. "GET BACK HERE!! No-one gets away with impersonating the Captain!!" He screamed.

The people walking around the streets stared at them with wide eyes. What on earth was wrong with these people?? For goodness sake, it wasn't safe to walk the streets of Karakura anymore!!

Yumichika wandered around a bend in the road. He was shaking his head and talking to himself. "What is with all the screaming today?? Seriously."

He stopped halfway in his stride and stared at the man racing down the street, being chased by two maniacs waving swords.

Yumichika gaped at them and then screamed out at his assistant captain and Ikkaku: "What are you two doing?? Why are you chasing the Captain?!"

"BECAUSE HE'S A FAKE!!" Yachiru screamed back hysterically.

"He's not Captain Zaraki!! He's an imposter!!" Ikkaku yelled.

Yumichika had to run to catch up to the three crazy people. "WHAT?? How can you tell??"

Ikkaku turned back to shout back, "Because he…he…" Ikkaku's face whitened like chalk as his eyes darkened and his voice grew hoarse. _It's so awful I can't even talk about it!! _

"What? What did he do??" Yumichika cried, breathless from all the screaming.

Ikkaku shivered and spat out, "He…h-he…" his voice fell to a whisper, "…he was flirting with Orihime!!"

"WHATT??" Yumichika's eyes widened like the other two insane Eleventh Company officers. His eyes flashed and madness exploded through him. He pulled out his sword and ran after the others. "IMPOSTER!!"

--

Ichigo cursed under his breath as he felt fresh blood spurt from his chest. Kenpachi's sword was sticking straight into his gut and he felt like he was about to vomit. However, Ichigo's sword was also sticking into Kenpachi's chest and torrents of blood were rushing out from the gaping wound.

Kenpachi was covered in cuts and gashes all over him, each one more painful and deeper than the other. There was so much blood on the ground; it was probably going to be dyed red for ever. Kenpachi's grin never left his face but his chest was heaving back and forth painfully and struggling to breathe with the weight of all is wounds.

Ichigo stood across from him, blood dripping from his mouth and his face. He had gashes and cuts all over him too and he seriously felt like throwing up. But he kept holding on to his sword. He was not going to fall!! He was not going to spew! He was not going to lose!! Absolutely not!! But it was getting hard to stand now. He felt himself wobble slightly and to perk himself up, he licked blood from his lips and felt the saltiness coarse through him.

Even Karin and Jinta, the fighting enthusiasts were silent as they stared with hollow eyes at the gory scene in front of them. "Ichi-nii…" Karin murmured.

Yoruichi (cat) stepped up, and Urahara got to his feet.

"Well…" said Urahara calmly, still waving his little fan. "Shall we stop this fight now?"

Yoruichi nodded. "Seems its time," she agreed.

But before the two could step onto the battlefield, there was a huge explosion and the sky fell in. Actually, it was the roof of the training area, but it seemed like the sky in this landscape. The floor of Urahara Shoten was crashing in!!

There were cries of "IMPOSTER!!" and "FAKE!!" and stomping around and the slashing of swords, and then the sky exploded and bits of dust and wood and bricks and debris were flying all over the place and crashing into the ground.

Karin, Jinta, Ururu, Urahara, Yoruichi and Rukia stood and stared as the mess fell on top of Kenpachi and Ichigo and as the floor above caved in right above the battlefield, another Kenpachi crashed into the mess, followed by Yachiru, Ikkaku and Yumichika.

"Ichigo!!" Rukia and the others ran towards the mess and surveyed the limbs sticking out from the pile. Six dishevelled corpse-like creatures crawled up from amid the mess.

"Ken-chan!!" Yachiru cried out as she ran into the arms of a bloody Kenpachi. Yachiru smiled as she climbed on top of Kenpachi, blind to his blood and falling apart limbs. She did however realize, "Kenny, there's a sword sticking through ya!"

Kenpachi looked down at his stomach. "So there is," he said and pulled Zangetsu out easily.

"WOW!!" Jinta and Karin's mouths were wide. "HE IS SO COOL!!" They were fascinated by how completely cool Kenpachi was and how he just stood there and pulled the sword out of his stomach.

Ichigo grumbled to himself as he got out of the mess. Rukia just laughed as she stood beside him and helped his decrepit bleeding figure to move away from the mess.

Yumichika and Ikkaku, seemingly unharmed stepped away from the pile of junk and the gigai lying there.

"Aww…" Urahara whined as he waved the fan at his face to calm himself down. "What have you done to me and Yoruichi's special underground training area?"

"It was all his fault!!" The three eleventh company officers pointed to Kenpachi's gigai.

Urahara shook his head as he pulled out his walking stick from nowhere and prodded Kenpachi's figure. The gikongan rolled out of the gigai and Urahara sighed to himself. He called out to Ururu, Jinta and Tessai- who promptly appeared at the scene, "We have a lot of work to do, guys!"

--

As the crowd of people slowly made their way to the exit, Yachiru never stopped clinging onto Kenpachi, not caring how bloody she made the human clothes she had borrowed from Urahara get.

Karin realized with a start that she was supposed to meet Donny, Pinta and the others for a soccer game and ran off.

Ikkaku sheathed his sword and sighed as he said, "I'm never going to trust a gikongan ever again!!"

"Me neither!" Yumichika murmured to himself.

"Oh by the way, Ichigo," Kenpachi grinned as he turned to Ichigo, "since we got interrupted this time, we're going to have to fight again some time."

"What??" Ichigo spat out.

"We should fight again tomorrow!" Kenpachi said, ever the fighting enthusiast.

Ichigo paled. "What? I won't even have time to recover!" He felt his stomach lurch from pain and blood spurt out from his stomach.

"It doesn't matter!" Kenpachi said, "We're still going to have to battle again."

Ichigo was quiet. His eyes were blank.

"Ichigo?" Rukia wondered.

Ichigo turned his back towards them and threw up.

**End of Chapter 7!! Hope you liked!! I enjoy writing about Karin and Jinta's very childish aspects!! Makes a nice difference from how serious the last fic about Karin was!! Anyway, man, fight scenes take up so much space. But I like writing them so much!! I'd like to write another Naruto fic sometime so I can write more hand-to-hand combat fight scenes rather than sword fights. Sword fights are so much harder to write!! So, thankyou for reading!! Please review!! **


	8. Yachiru and the Sandcastle

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and you know it

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach and you know it!! **

**Hiya!! Thankyou so much for all your review! I'm glad you liked the fight scenes and the parts about the gigai!! Truthfully, I would like some more ideas about what Kenny and Yachiru can do here in the Living World, so if anyone has any ideas, I'd like to hear them!! Well, here's chapter 8!! Read and review! **

**Chapter 8: Yachiru and the Sandcastle**

Kenpachi, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Yachiru had invaded Orihime's lounge room and were sprawled out across the room.

Kenpachi had bandages wrapped all around him and smelt of antiseptic. It had taken Orihime for ever to fix him up and even then Kenpachi's never-ending stream of blood kept dripping from his wounds.

Orihime had felt a little nervous around Kenpachi this morning, due to what had happened yesterday. Luckily, Yumichika had the kioku-chikan handy and replaced her memory so now Orihime thought that yesterday the Eleventh company were running the Olympic torch relay and so that was why they were racing down the street. And that she herself had also been carrying the torch and had to pass it to Kenpachi, which was why their hands had touched. Gosh, it was complicated.

Ikkaku sat cross-legged with his sword resting on his knees. Its blade was sharp and shiny and Ikkaku was happily polishing it. And now both the sword and his head shone together in the bright sunlight.

Yumichika leant back and sighed with satisfaction. The Living World sure was nice when you weren't running around fighting Hollows all the time. Of course, this morning he felt some Hollows around Karakura but then decided to let Ichigo and Rukia take care of them. He really didn't care that Ichigo was spurting blood every time he got to his feet to fight.

Yachiru was dancing.

She didn't actually know why she was dancing, but she was. She had a twitch in her toes and a bounce in her step and energy in her body. She stood and jumped and turned and bounced. Yumichika was getting quite annoyed, but hey, she was restless. She wanted to do something! She was itching for action!

"What's up with you today, Yachiru?" asked Kenpachi. He looked like a mummy and Yachiru couldn't help giggling out loud. But Kenpachi was actually in a very good mood today because the fight with Ichigo yesterday had been so fun.

"I dunno!!" Yachiru wiped the smile from her face and replaced it with a pout. "I'm bored, Kenny, I'm bbooorrrreeeedd!!"

Kenpachi started to get to his feet, saying, "Well, let's go do something-" when suddenly Orihime burst in from the kitchen, crying out, "No! Mr Zaraki!! You can't get up!! You have to rest because you're still recovering!"

When Orihime had returned to the kitchen, Kenpachi rolled his eyes. He still started to get up, when suddenly Yachiru said, "No, wait, Ken-chan! Chubby Chest is right! You should probably stay and rest up!!" The tiny pink-haired trouble-maker forced a grin. "I'll be all right by myself!!"

Kenpachi's frown was huge, "You sure?"

"Yup yup, I'll be fine!" Yachiru sang and then danced right out the door.

Yumichika laughed lightly at this. "Captain, you're like a worried parent!"

"No, I'm not," Kenpachi said simply.

Ikkaku sent Yumichika a slightly annoyed look. "Duh, everyone knows they're like best friends."

Kenpachi just smiled at this.

Ikkaku grinned to himself as he stared down at his reflection in his super-shiny sword. "And we already know that Yachiru thinks that Kenpachi is her whole world,"

--

"Ohh… I'm bored!! I'm bored!! I'm bored-bored-bored!!" Yachiru sang loudly as she skipped down a path in the streets of Karakura.

She paused for a moment and let out a loud sigh. Then she spotted something from across the road. It was a sandpit in the yard of a preschool and there were two little kids crouching in the sand and digging with little plastic spades. Yachiru thought it looked like fun.

She was not shy at all, and simply wandered over, climbed up the fence and hung there, looking over at the two children. "Hiya!" She said.

They looked up, and were shocked. The little boy had a huge pair of glasses and they barely balanced on his small nose. They kept falling off and he had to keep pushing them back up. He had messy hair, brown and wavy. He stared up with wide eyes at the pink-haired girl hanging over the gate.

The girl beside him was digging furiously. She was trying to get to China, but little did she know, if she did ever dig to the other side of the world, she'd end up in Brazil instead. She was surprised at the interruption when Yachiru noisily jumped upon the fence. Her mouth was open and she dropped the spade she had been carrying.

"Whatcha doing?" Yachiru asked in a friendly way.

The boy found his voice first. He had been filling a bucket with sand. "Building sandcastles." he muttered, pushing up the huge glasses as they slid down his nose again.

"Really??" Yachiru watched as he turned the bucket upside down and lifted it again and watched the sand fall down into some pile of sand.

Yachiru was amused and thought it was amazing but the boy was obviously not pleased with the result of his bucket-turning.

"Darn it!" The boy was clearly annoyed. The pile of sand did not look anything like the bucket-shaped castle it was meant to look like.

The little girl beside him shuffled over and took the bucket. "Lemme try!!" She said.

Yachiru watched intently as the girl in turn filled up the bucket and turned it. Only half of the castle turned out right but Yachiru was obviously delighted at it.

"Wow!! That's cool!!" she said in an awed voice and clambered up over the fence and landed beside the boy. "I wanna play too!"

The three children spent the morning in the sandpit, busily building and shaping their sandcastle. What started as a dodgy-looking half-formed bucket-shaped mound had turned into a large group of bucket-shaped mounds, therefore making it a sandcastle.

Yachiru was feeling happier than she had in a long time. She had never made a sandcastle before and she never remembered having friends around her age or children around to play with. It was very strange to her, because in Soul Society, all her life she only ever remembered Kenpachi beside her; or maybe Ikkaku and even Yumichika. She really… never experienced child's play before.

--

The three of them sat back and admired their creation. Yachiru had almost forgotten about her beloved Kenny for a moment, because of how much fun she was having; but she was glad that he was still there, always present in her heart.

She absently wiped the back of her hand against her cheek, feeling the sand across her face.

While she enjoyed both the girl and the boy's company, she felt closer to the little boy because although he was shy, he had this wonderful friendly smile that made her feel right at home here in this world that was not hers. He was such a great friendly person, although timid and with huge awkward glasses, that Yachiru almost wished she was a human and could stay with her two friends and grow up with them, here in Karakura. As soon as this thought crossed her mind, Yachiru immediately scolded herself. How dare she!! She couldn't wish that she lived in this world!! She belonged in Soul Society and Soul Society only!! She belonged with Kenpachi and nothing was EVER going to change that!! NOTHING!!

Yachiru shook her head to pay attention to the growing sandcastle before her. The other girl was excited and was tapping on the shoulder of the boy. "Yu-kun! This is the biggest one we've made so far!!"

For once, the boy ignored the quickly slipping glasses, and grinned back at the girl while busily building away. "Yeah!! This is so cool!!"

Yachiru smiled along with the others but once again, wondered why she couldn't have been here and lived with these two.

_Because I'm dead… _a distant thought drifted through her mind. She quickly tried to brush away this thought, but she kept thinking about it. What if, what if she hadn't died and these two would actually have been her friends and she would have a nice human life?

Yachiru felt sadness rise up inside her. She was in despair. She'd never ever had thoughts or wishes like these before and she disliked it. It put her whole life in disarray and jumbled up her normally positive outlook on life in Soul Society.

_Ken-chan… _she wished desperately for Kenpachi, her soul mate. He would be able to cheer her up and turn her view back the right way around. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to spend so much time in the real world without Kenpachi.

Yachiru hid a sigh as she dug her spade back into the sand. What was this called, finally finding out and learning that there was more in the world than what you thought? What was it called to have your view suddenly pushed aside and new ones flooding in?

Two words floated into her mind and they were words that she had heard Yumichika saying a couple of times before.

What were they again? Oh, that's right.

_Growing up. _

--

The sandcastle was just completed when Yachiru felt a shiver creep through her skin. She was immediately on guard, because of Eleventh Company's strict fighting and training regime.

"Hm? What's up?" The boy looked up at Yachiru.

He was answered by the roar of a Hollow and bloodcurdling pressure that overwhelmed him.

_It's a Hollow! _Yachiru thought as she shouted, "Stay back, you two!!"

She burst out of her gigai and pulled out her zanpakuto and stood to face the triple-her-height Hollow.

"…ahh… AH!!" The cries were coming from the little boy. He was standing and staring at the huge Hollow, tears appearing in his eyes.

Yachiru was surprised. "Eh?? You can see it?"

Suddenly, the Hollow made a move, and its first move was to shift a giant foot towards the sandpit.

The little boy immediately forgot his fears and ran to protect the sandcastle. It was a brave but stupid thing to do. While the little girl and Yachiru watched, he raced to the sandcastle and stood in front of it, arms outstretched to protect it.

"Yu-kun! Yu-kun! What are you doing?" The girl shouted. She was unable to see the Hollow, but she felt that something was definitely looming nearby.

Yachiru cried out as the Hollow swung his huge foot and crushed the boy underneath it. All the little girl beside her could see was the boy crumple to the ground, under some invisible force. Tears flowed down her face. Yachiru turned to the girl, about to comfort her, but knew she had to get her to safety.

"Quick!! Get outta the way!!" Yachiru yelled as she pulled the girl away with her as they narrowly missed another heavy step made by the Hollow's feet.

The little girl was so terrified and shaken at what her two friends were doing and what had happened to the boy that she promptly passed out. Yachiru swiftly lifted her over her shoulder and brought her somewhere safe. Then, she sped back towards the sandpit with her amazing speed to help the little boy.

He was so terrified he couldn't speak, couldn't scream, couldn't even find the tears to cry. His throat was frozen in a dry silent scream and his eyes wide and seeing this horrific Hollow in front of him. He was going to die! He was going to die!!

He could feel the pain from the first crushing blow still present, and see the broken shards of his glasses scattered in front of him, some of the glass digging into his face. He tasted the blood on his lips and felt his bones and joints creaking.

He was going to die!! He let out a strangled sob deep inside his throat. He was way, way too young to die! The remains of the once majestic sandcastle behind him made him ache inside. The sand was crumbling away and it was nothing but a pile of sand.

He only just managed to find his voice to scream as the Hollow's foot came down once again, so fast it was a blur, so heavy it basically fell like lead. He could hear the loud bang, the clash of two things colliding at great speed, the force of pressure exploding around him.

He had had his eyes squeezed shut. But now he opened them. Then he opened them even wider, as wide as they could go. He gasped at what he saw.

The Hollow was roaring in annoyance. Its foot was stopped midway down by a tiny shinigami with pink hair, wielding a sword. It was so huge and she was so small, but her strength was immense and was able to prevent it from crushing a child underfoot.

While the Hollow threw back its head and howled in its irritation, Yachiru quickly swung the sword and its foot came crashing down, and the boy winced as it came rolling past him. Yachiru leapt up into the air and with one brief stroke sliced the Hollow's mask neatly in half. The Hollow cried out and dispersed into the air, while Yachiru landed on her feet in the sandpit beside the stunned boy.

The boy stared at Yachiru, in her shihakusho. There was no doubt he could still see her. He struggled to his feet, tripping over the broken glasses nearby, and hurting his bare feet. He cried out towards his fallen friend, resting outside the edge of the sandpit. "Shi-chan!!"

The girl was still unconscious, but he ambled over to her, ignoring the throbbing pain in his feet and all over his body. He knelt beside her and supported her with his arms, feeling tears of relief rushing down his face. When he looked at her face, he saw the fresh tears flowing down hers as well.

He knelt there, his friend in his arms, his broken glasses nearby, the wrecked sandcastle in the pit, amongst the torn-down equipment, in pain and exhaustion, covered in cuts and bruises and broken bones.

But those tears of relief never stopped flowing, not from him, nor the little girl who was asleep.

Yachiru stood apart from them, her shihakusho billowing from the gentle breeze. Her will and her spirit was no longer here, with them in this sandpit, it was ahead in other things. Kenpachi and Soul Society were her life. Eleventh Company was her duty. She would leave these two- her would-be friends, to grow up together and without her.

He gazed at her, with teary eyes and cuts on his face and nose from the broken glass. She simply stood there and grinned at him, surprising him by her overly bright smile.

He opened his mouth, trying to find words, trying to find his voice and say something- voice his thanks or something!! But she spoke first and he couldn't even mouth the words he wanted.

Yachiru replaced her sword into its scabbard and shone her sunny smile at him. "Goodbye."

With that, she leapt away and was gone. Just vanished.

Only after she was gone, could the little boy find his words. He sank into the ground, resting his head on his sleeping friend's weary shoulders, "…thankyou…"

--

He never saw her again.

Although he grew up after that and learnt to tell the difference between the living spirits and the non-living spirits, he never saw the pink-haired girl again. But even after all the quickly-passing years, he never stopped wondering who that girl with the bright smile that saved his life was.

**End of Chapter 8!! Did you like? I certainly did!! I was away for most of this week so I was glad I managed to finish this!! Be grateful!! Heh!! The little girl and boy were Shi-chan and Yu-kun. They're heaps cool. Anyway, thankyou for reading!! I hope you'll keep continue reading!! Please review!! **


	9. End of Eleventh Company?

This is chhhaaaapptteeeeeeerrrr NINE

**This is chhhaaaapptteeeeeeerrrr NINE!! WOW!! It wouldn't have ever gotten this far if it weren't for all your encouraging reviews!! Thankyou very much!! I don't own Bleach!! Please read and review!! **

**Chapter 9: End of Eleventh Company? **

"What do you mean Captain Zaraki of Eleventh Division left Soul Society without telling anyone?? Where's the assistant captain?? What? She's gone too? Oh wait, duh, makes sense. You can't have one without the other!! Where's the third seat- Madarame?? He went with them? And Ayasegawa too? Arghhh!! Eleventh Company!! They are all in BIG TROUBLE!!"

--

In Soul Society, all of the Gotei 13 were very restless. Especially Division Eleven.

The twelve captains had had a couple of meetings since Kenpachi's disappearance, and they all voiced their own opinions about Kenpachi. They had gotten Izuru to take care of Eleventh Company while other soul reapers were busy finding the missing four Eleventh Company officers. But Izuru was having lots of problems dealing with the crazy company. Eleventh Company was, after all, the most intense and strongest squad there was in the Gotei 13. They had gotten their strength, motivation and fighting spirit from their crazy but inspirational captain. And now that Kenpachi was gone, they were growing restless. They wanted Kenpachi back because that was the reason they were in Eleventh Company, to fight and grow stronger under him. Some of them were beginning to doubt Kenpachi, thinking of him as a traitor that had given up or something. Others tried to be patient, but just like their impatient captain, they struggled with obeying the orders of Izuru Kira, who in turn was terrified of the Eleventh Division.

Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto was also thinking about what he should do with the often rebellious captain and his posse that followed his every instruction. The sotaichou sighed quietly to himself. He stood at the window in his headquarters are looked outside, where Izuru was running in fear from two scary-looking Eleventh Company guys wielding brooms.

As he turned away from them, he wondered if maybe he had made a mistake letting Kenpachi become a captain.

--

"Hey, Captain?" Ikkaku was walking down the streets of Karakura, the wooden sword he carried around in the Real World, rested on his shoulder. The other three were following behind him, Yachiru perched on Kenpachi's shoulder as usual.

"Yeah??" Kenpachi said.

Ikkaku pulled a face at the sky ahead of him. "I dunno, but don't you reckon we should be heading back to Soul Society soon?"

Kenpachi didn't get a chance to reply because Yachiru immediately answered for him. "NOO!! OF COURSE NOT, PACHINKO BALL!! What are ya thinking?? Karakura's way cool!! Its fun and Icchy's here!! Kenny doesn't wanna go back!!"

Ikkaku rolled his eyes meticulously and retorted, "I wasn't asking you!!"

"Oh, but down here in Earth it can be so much more beautiful!" Yumichika answered, "Of course, that's only when people put effort into making things beautiful, unlike Ichigo obviously. Anyway, there are so many wonderful colours down here, unlike the dull old Seireitei in Soul Society."

Ikkaku sighed with great exasperation. He turned to the captain and practically shouted out, "Captain Zaraki!! We should go back to Soul Society right away!!"

Kenpachi's eyes were lowered under his eyelids, giving him the impression that he was tired or asleep. He wandered dazedly behind the others. "Huhh…" he muttered in reply to Ikkaku's statement.

Ikkaku shook his head in annoyance and walked faster.

--

"What are we doing now?" Renji was standing outside the senkai gate, about to leave Soul Society.

Byakuya stood firm and proper as usual beside him. "Why are we always sent to retrieve misguided shinigami?" he was murmuring to himself. Turning over to Renji, he explained, "We're bringing Zaraki and the rest of his little group back to Soul Society. They seem to be in a lot of trouble regarding the leadership and responsibilities of their company."

Renji sniffed. "Well, what do we expect? They're Eleventh Company!"

Byakuya didn't answer, simply walked into the gate and Renji was left to rush after him.

--

The Eleventh Company posse were standing in the street across from Urahara Shoten. Now that they were there they had forgotten what they came here for. Initially, they had wanted to get some more stuff for their stay in the Real World, but then it had come into question how long they had planned to stay and whether they should be heading back.

No-one could really read Kenpachi's mind, but it had been his decision to come here in the first place. He was just standing there, looking very dazed today, and not paying any attention to anything around him. They guessed he must've been deep in thought, but they didn't know what of.

He was thinking of Yachiru. And what she had said. And since she was Yachiru, of course she had been right. He really did like the Living World. It was so different from the dull world of Soul Society and the systematic and repetitive routines of the Seireitei and the Gotei 13. Here, he was free to do as he pleased, and he never cared about what the humans thought of him. Here, Yachiru was the brightest and happiest ever. Ichigo was here, and Kenpachi liked the thought of training to get stronger just so he could beat him. It was always nice to have a rival, even though Ichigo whined a lot.

Yachiru was always right when it was about him. He did want to stay. But the thoughts of the Gotei 13 and his Eleventh Company were still in his mind. He had worked had to bring up his division to the unmatched strength they had now. He had trained them and put them through so much blood and pain that now they were feared and respected among all the other companies. Definitely, his company was also hated by some, such as that prissy third-seat officer from Fourth Company, but that was okay. Kenpachi loved his company!

Yachiru looked down at Kenpachi. Slowly, she placed a hand tenderly against his neck and smiled with understanding. Even a crazy, fighting-obsessed soul reaper like Kenpachi needed to think sometimes.

But to her dismay, the time for thinking had already passed.

--

"HEY!! Madarame-san!! Ayasegawa!!" Renji's voice came shouting from nearby.

Emerging from the side of Urahara Shoten were the Captain and Assistant Captain of Sixth Company.

Ikkaku and Yumichika couldn't help being surprised at their appearance. Their doubts and suspicions rose even more when Renji yelled, "Where's Captain Zaraki and Assistant Captain Kusajishi? There are some important issues that your division has to deal with!"

"Eh?" Ikkaku stared down at his supposed kohai. "Whaddaya mean?"

Renji didn't like to bring bad news to one of the guys he respected most, but he avoided Ikkaku's gaze and said, "I don't know much about it, but rumours are Captain Zaraki might lose his position as a captain."

"What??" Ikkaku and Yumichika cried.

Byakuya interrupted as Renji was about to reply. "This matter is strictly between Captain Zaraki and the Captain-general. This isn't the time for you to discuss it. We must find Zaraki and Kusajishi and return immediately."

With that, Byakuya turned back towards the Senkai Gate. Ikkaku frowned but wandered off after the Sixth Captain. Renji and Yumichika followed, but looked back behind them to look for the two Eleventh Captain officers.

--

Before they entered the gate to leave the Living World and return to Soul Society, Byakuya filled Kenpachi and Yachiru in on what was going on. Kenpachi had already sensed something like this was happening beforehand, so he expected it. Yachiru however, listened with despair grow on her face.

"The sotaichou has informed the captains of the Gotei 13 that your position as Eleventh Captain is being doubted." Byakuya said, "According to him and his records, Yamamoto-sotaichou has reported that practically no paperwork is being done, even less than Eighth Company and Tenth Company on their worst days. Your company refuses to cooperate or maintain itself while its two commanding captains and third and fifth seat are away. Disturbing reports were heard about the assignment you two were given as teachers at the Shinigami Academy, and so you were replaced by Captain Komamura. Not only the Captain-general but also the Gotei 13 are worried about the violence and force applied in Eleventh Company. The company itself seems fine with it but Yamamoto-sotaichou is not pleased. And most importantly, for the captain, assistant captain and two high-ranking seated officers to run off to the Living World without either informing the Gotei 13 or permission to leave is a most serious crime."

Kenpachi felt Yachiru's despair tense her up. He lifted up a hand and offered it for her to hold. Yachiru gripped his hand tight, biting her lip, greatly despairing over all the horrible news that Byakuya had said.

_Bya-kun sure said a lot in one go… _she thought, _it's kinda hard to understand, but I do know one thing… _

Kenpachi noticed as Yachiru's grip loosened as tears brimmed in her eyes. _Ken-chan might not get to be Captain anymore… _

Renji, Ikkaku and Yumichika were standing closest to the Senkai Gate, farther away from the others. But they could hear it all just as clearly.

Byakuya sighed softly. Then he raised his head and stared seriously into Kenpachi's eyes. "Captain Zaraki, Yamamoto-sotaichou would like to know your opinion. Do you plan on staying the Eleventh Company Shinigami Captain of the Gotei 13 or not?"

The Eleventh Company posse watched and sweated as they waited on Kenpachi. They wanted Kenpachi to reply without a doubt that he planned to stay Captain for ever. But they knew that Kenpachi's heart was not in it right now.

Even with Ikkaku, Yumichika and Yachiru gazing so intently at him, Kenpachi couldn't answer for sure.

He asked himself again and knew that it would take time for him to understand and choose. _Did he want to stay a shinigami captain or not? _

There would be a lot more riding on his answer than ever before.

**Well, some of you might be screaming, what kinda gay-arse question is that?? DUH!! Kenpachi loves Eleventh Company!! The actual true question is whether Kenny wants to work as a Shinigami Captain anymore. He can't stand Old man Yama or the rules and routines of the dull and boring Seireitei and the Gotei 13 drives him nuts. The truth is whether he wants to stay a shinigami or not, not just being a captain. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading!! The end is drawing near!! The next chapter is the second-last!! ARGH!! Please review!! **


	10. Kenpachi's Decision

Hey there

**Hey there!! This is the second-last chapter!! Would you believe it?? Awww… I'm feeling sad and exhausted already. Anyway, thanks for all your support; please continue to support me as I race to the finish line!! Hee!! Read and review!! **

**Chapter 10: Kenpachi's Decision **

Yachiru sat on the desk in the headquarters of Eleventh Company, swinging her legs back and forth as she struggled to wait patiently. Kenpachi had gone off for a 'very important private meeting' with Old Man Yama, according to Yumichika.

She sighed and stared up restlessly at the ceiling. Yachiru hated not being with Kenpachi. So she just had to sit and wait patiently, because Kenpachi would be happy if she behaved herself.

--

The Eleventh Company was up again and roaring with enthusiasm. Yes, literally roaring.

Their third seat Ikkaku Madarame was pacing back and forth in front of the crowd of Eleventh Company shinigami that had been gathered. He was taking over Kenpachi's training session, and barking out orders. Ikkaku couldn't help being pleased that Eleventh Company was so strong and enthusiastic. Heh, he loved Eleventh Company. And he loved fighting under Kenpachi.

While thinking about this, Ikkaku couldn't help his face darkening with despair as he thought of the meeting Kenpachi was having with the Captain-General right now. But he tried to push it out of his mind and pay attention to the bright-eyed pumped-up soul reapers swinging their swords in front of him.

Ikkaku smiled. He let the excited atmosphere take over him. He felt happy, but he knew it would only be for a moment. There was no way he could've known about the hell Eleventh Company put Izuru Kira through.

--

When Kenpachi slid open the wooden door to the Eleventh Division building, he was tackled by a tiny pink-haired shinigami, who leapt at him and grabbed him around the neck, thrilled by his return.

Kenpachi stood still and let Yachiru climb up and perch upon his shoulder. She was chattering away happily, very glad to have her dear Ken-chan back.

Suddenly, she noticed his silence and went quiet herself.

The best friends stayed there, still and quiet for a moment. They were both thinking the same thing. Finally, Yachiru picked up the courage to ask, "Kenny, what did Ol' Yama say?"

Kenpachi let out something like a sigh. "Well… it's true I haven't been the best Gotei 13 Captain…" he muttered.

"Kenny?" Yachiru tugged on his shoulder.

Kenpachi said, "Even if I wanted to stay Eleventh Company Captain, there's no guarantee he'll let me stay either. But… he has said my decision is important. He's giving me today to think about whether I'm willing to continue being a shinigami captain, and then late afternoon, I'll have to meet up with him again and tell him my decision."

Yachiru considered Kenpachi's words. "Since you said it like that… I'm guessing… you aren't actually sure."

Kenpachi could've been ashamed that Yachiru could tell he had his doubts, but he didn't show it. There was never any point in trying to hide things from Yachiru.

Then Yumichika rushed in, followed by Ikkaku.

"What happened? What's the news?" They both chorused, worry written all over their faces.

Kenpachi was now sitting at his desk, pretending to do paperwork but in reality was restacking them again, barely glancing at the page. Yachiru was now sitting cross-legged beside him, frowning hard and in deep thought.

Kenpachi didn't need to reply when Yachiru replied for him: "He said that Ken-chan needs to decide what he wants."

Yumichika sighed a bit with relief, but Ikkaku's shoulders lowered with woe. Ikkaku knew that this decision wasn't as easy as they would've thought. He knew, and all of Gotei 13 knew, and had experienced that Kenpachi was a free spirit and no-one could tie him down. He did what he pleased and didn't do what he disliked. If Kenpachi grew sick of the Seireitei he would leave, and Ikkaku was one of the people that knew this best.

"Have you decided yet?" Yumichika asked. He absent-mindedly played with the weird coloured things sticking from his eyelashes.

Kenpachi made a murmuring sound, still glaring at the stack of paperwork.

Yachiru raised her head then and cried out, "Heyy!! I know!! I'll help you decide, Ken-chan!!"

"What," Ikkaku muttered. It was a statement, not a question.

Yachiru jumped to her feet and started to dance around energetically. "C'mon, Kenny! I know just what to do that will help you make up your mind!!"

"What?" Kenpachi asked, as he slowly rose to his feet.

"I'll fight you!!" Yachiru declared.

Ikkaku and Yumichika collapsed.

"What?" Yachiru sounded shocked, "It's a great idea!"

"Yachiru…" Kenpachi started to say.

Ikkaku interrupted, "That's a stupid idea, Yachiru!! You know Captain Kenpachi won't fight you!!"

"Why not?" Yachiru was genuinely confused.

"You'd get hurt!!"

"So?" was her reply.

Ikkaku gritted his teeth. "Duh! Think about this! Who do you think will win, and completely smash the other person to a pulp?"

"Ken-chan!!"

_Do you really want to get smashed to a pulp that badly? _Ikkaku and Yumichika thought with sweatdrops on their faces.

"You know better than anyone else, Yachiru; that I don't go easy on anyone. Not even on you." Kenpachi told her.

"I know!" Yachiru replied simply. "But I'm not going to just let you win. We're gonna fight until you make your decision!!"

--

Reluctantly, Kenpachi let Yachiru drag him out into a deserted area somewhere further away from the Seireitei. "Yachiru," he started to talk some sense into her again.

Yachiru shook her head furiously and drew her sword from her wheeled scabbard. "Why not, Kenny?? Why don't you want to fight? You always want to fight!!"

"But-" Kenpachi started.

"It's all right! I know you'll win, and I promise I won't be angry!!"

"But-"

"I don't mind getting hurt, really I don't!"

"But-"

"I won't go easy on you, Ken-chan!! You know that!! I'll fight my hardest!"

Kenpachi was irritated. She really didn't get the point, did she?

Yachiru's sword glinted in the morning light as she smiled at Kenpachi. "It's all right, Ken-chan! Don't worry!!"

Kenpachi still made no move.

"There's just one thing," Yachiru said, her gaze and voice turning serious. "Kenny, you have to promise me this!!"

"What?" Kenpachi asked lamely.

Yachiru stood there at his feet, clutching her little sword, glaring up at his huge form. "You can't go easy on me!! You have to go all out!! You have to swing your sword as hard as you can and fight me to the fullest!!"

"…" Kenpachi stared down at the tiny girl.

"Okay, Kenny??" she asked.

He didn't reply.

Finally, he let out a sigh and his shoulders dropped. "Fine." he agreed. "Whatever. Heck, I'll do it."

He stood up straighter and whipped out his blade. Its edge was so worn and old, yet it was still the weapon that had taken the lives of many, and the sword that all his division was terrified of.

Kenpachi looked down at Yachiru once more and grinned. A wide smirk spread across his face and his teeth showed. Amusement was apparent in his eyes as he grinned down at her.

"You didn't have to worry about it, Yachiru. There's no way in hell I'd go easy on you. And I mean it!"

At Kenpachi's smile, Yachiru flashed her own delighted grin straight back at her best friend. "I know!! That's why I'm not gonna go easy on you either, even if you are Ken-chan!!"

Then, Kenpachi still didn't understand how this would help him make up his mind about staying a soul reaper. But soon he would.

--

It seemed that both Ikkaku and Yumichika had underestimated their assistant captain. Well, it wasn't like they saw her fight that often, it's just that Yachiru's skill was always in the shadow of her insanely powerful captain.

And while only Kenpachi himself knew the full potential of Yachiru, both he and Yachiru already knew who the victor in this fight would be. Even so, she wasn't going to give the win to him so easily and he wouldn't have let her.

It felt odd to Kenpachi standing opposite his adored friend, to have them both holding on to their swords. And then, Yachiru grinned a very brief loving smile to Kenpachi and promptly vanished.

Kenpachi knew that although he was no doubt at an advantage because of his height and undefeatable strength and fighting spirit, but Yachiru had the skill of speed. If he was going to fight her then he would have to find her first.

She had already gone, beyond his sight. Kenpachi sucked at sensing spiritual pressure but he could sense Yachiru easily. Suddenly, he picked up his feet and darted forward, gaining incredible speed, mouth widening into a smirk.

Yachiru smiled to herself as she looked behind her for a second to see Kenpachi running after her. She could hear his footsteps pounding into the ground.

There! At the exact sound of Kenpachi's next step, she zipped straight past him, across him and jumped backwards onto a nearby tree.

Kenpachi kept running. And then he realized that Yachiru was no longer in front of him. He whirled around and brought down his sword, straight down to the tiny Yachiru standing there, who immediately blocked him with incredible force on her sword to hold up against his strike.

The first meeting of their swords in this battle.

Yachiru gritted her teeth as she struggled to hold up her sword against Kenpachi's. Dammit. She felt her grip begin to hurt her hand and her sword slowly sliding downwards. Kenpachi was too strong! First her wrist and then her whole arm began to shiver.

She bit her lip. Time to retreat for now.

She thrust her sword forward and upwards hastily and for that split second when Kenpachi's sword was forced away from hers; she back-flicked into invisibility again, gone in a flash.

Kenpachi's smile didn't disappear. Yachiru was using her speed and running around, bounding backwards and forwards and all over the place, using the battlefield to the best of her advantage and keeping the much larger Kenpachi have trouble catching her.

Kenpachi turned and rushed after the pink-haired flash that was flying through the air at top speed, every now and then tapping her foot on the walls to keep her speed and her flight.

Kenpachi jumped suddenly and instead of bringing the sword down, sent it going around, in a fast sideways slash. It would be hard to dodge.

Yachiru immediately jumped, and the sword only just narrowly missed her. She stepped lightly on Kenpachi's blade and then dashed across to the other side of Kenpachi. Kenpachi wasn't done yet. In the same quick movement, he did an easy turn on his toes and kept his blade swinging around, straight into Yachiru!

The clanging of the second meeting of the swords was deafening. The sound of scraping metal shook them both for a moment.

Yachiru had only just whipped out her sword in front of her and was blocking with everything she had. Her blade was pressed right close towards her and her other hand was all between her sword and herself. She felt her own sword start cutting slightly into her palm. A smudge of blood was appearing on her sword and Yachiru had to move before she chopped her fingers off with her own sword!

It was a tight position, being so close to being hacked and only just blocking a centimetre from your body. But she wasn't beaten yet.

Kenpachi was worried for Yachiru for a moment then but he couldn't stop forcing his sword forward. He had promised.

At that moment, Yachiru let her sword slip. Kenpachi's sword swept forward, in a blur because of its speed. Yachiru ducked narrowly and sped off, but not without Kenpachi's sword slicing off a shred of her black shihakusho. The tiny piece of fabric fluttered to the ground without a sound.

As Yachiru continued to run and practically fly with her speed, she lifted her hand and licked the cut running across her palm. As she tasted the blood on her tongue she ran even faster pushed her foot out at the tree trunk in front of her and leapt downwards.

To both her and Kenpachi's surprise she landed right in front of him, right at his feet. Before Kenpachi had a chance to attack, she jumped up and quickly rushed off, vanishing as quickly as she had appeared. Kenpachi was fast this time because he felt that the fight had gone on for too long.

They found each other again, directly across from each other. Both took up their swords at exactly the same time and swung. Kenpachi's blade swept down on Yachiru's shoulder and hers drew a deep gash across his chest, blood spurting out from both cuts.

In quick reaction to their wounds they pulled up their swords again and struck each other's blade. The third clash of bare screeching steel.

They held there for exactly three seconds. Yachiru's shaking arm was unable to put up with Kenpachi's force and her sword was flung to the ground with a clatter. At that moment, Kenpachi had also withdrawn his sword.

They stood there and then Yachiru looked up at Kenpachi and beamed. To her delight he grinned back at her.

He sheathed his sword and said, "I've made my decision."

Yachiru smiled as she bent down to pick up her sword. "I knew you would," she said, returning her sword to the wheeled scabbard lying nearby. As she bent over, she felt her shoulder ache a little but she kept smiling anyway. She knew it would happen.

"Thanks." Kenpachi said simply as he took the first step back towards the Eleventh Company building.

Yachiru trailed the scabbard behind her like a wagon as she said cheerfully, "No problem!"

"It was close," Kenpachi went on. "We're even,"

It was simple coming to his decision. Two cuts and just three clanging collisions of their blades.

Yachiru made a disbelieving sound. "That's dumb, Kenny! Don't lie! You know you won!!"

Kenpachi turned and looked at her. She stood beside a thin piece of black fabric that lay on the ground.

Yachiru tapped her foot lightly beside it, showing him her evidence and then ran to catch up to him.

Three clashes with their swords, two gaping wounds and a piece of cloth. He could say that was what made his decision.

--

When Kenpachi and Yachiru entered their headquarters, Ikkaku and Yumichika immediately turned to them, with both expectant and concerned looks on their faces.

"Assistant Captain!" Yumichika said as he rushed off with Yachiru to bandage her shoulder. Kenpachi ignored the huge gaping cut on his chest as he shrugged and sat down next to Ikkaku.

"So?" Ikkaku questioned.

Kenpachi smiled to himself as he stared out the open window. "I know what I'm gonna do know. I've made my decision."

"That's good." Ikkaku replied, without even asking about it.

He did, however cast a sideways glance at the cut on Kenpachi's chest. Then he leant back and said casually, "You're a liar, Captain."

"Huh?"

Ikkaku said, "You promised Yachiru and you told her that you wouldn't go easy on her."

Kenpachi said nothing.

Ikkaku smiled. "I saw that cut on her shoulder. That was hardly anything."

"Yeah, what about it?" Kenpachi pushed on, knowingly.

"You went easy. You couldn't hurt her even if you tried." Ikkaku said.

At this, Kenpachi just grinned.

"You could be right." he answered simply.

**Thanks for reading!! I hope you liked!! Aww… this is getting sad for me. Next chappie's the last one!! I can't believe it!! Heh… wow… I started this fic with just a coupla ideas and barely a plotline and here I am, almost at the finish line. Argh!! I get sentimental around this time in all of my fics!! Yep. Well, it's true. LAST CHAPTER OUT NEXT WEEK!! BE SURE TO READ IT!! Thankyou so much for everything, everyone!! You all rock!! Thankyou!! Emichii!! **


	11. Thankyou!

Yo buddies

**Yo buddies!! Sup? Well, I'll tell you what's up!! The LAST CHAPTER of Kenny and Yachiru's Soulreaping Adventures!! NOOO!! But… yeah, I knew it would happen some day, and here it is… I gotta thank every one of you for all your support, especially arrancar12!! Thanks for taking the time to send me messages! **

**Well then… last chappie!! Let's totally make it kick arse!! Yeah!! Read and review!! **

**Chapter 11: Thankyou! **

Kenpachi stood at the gate of the Seireitei.

Yamamoto stood across from him. The old soul reaper stared at him, looking at him through pale eyes and clutching his old twisted stick thing.

All around them, the other Gotei 13 captains were gathered, waiting to hear the verdict.

Kenpachi smirked.

And right behind Kenpachi were his faithful followers. Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa. They had grim expressions on their faces, yet their eyes betrayed nothing. They were silent and their only focus on their captain standing in front of them.

Beside Kenpachi and nowhere else was his assistant captain. Yachiru Kusajishi would do anything Kenpachi did, even if it meant going to the ends of the earth, the soul society, and beyond that. Even her normally cheerful face was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes were solemn and determined.

She stood so close to Kenpachi that she was practically hidden by his long shadow. Yachiru looked serious and yet she wasn't worried. Because she always knew her best friend better than anyone else.

--

Yamamoto began his little speech, with the grandness he always used for everything. "Captain Kenpachi Zaraki of Eleventh Company, don't think we haven't noticed all the things that your company is failing in. We have seen it all and we know them all. I'm sure Captain Kuchiki has already explained most of these things to you. Failing to do paperwork and to train your squad members under the proper code. The assignment given to you to teach the shinigami students only exposed more of the problems you had as a Gotei 13 Captain. You damaged Shinigami Academy equipment, Captain. You hurt and fought amateur students so brutally that you broke bones. I'm sure you're aware that this was why we removed you from that job and replaced you with Captain Komamura."

Kenpachi said nothing. He didn't seem the slightest bit worried. In fact, some of the other shinigami were noticing that maybe he even had a little smile on his face.

Yamamoto continued. "But most worrying, and what ultimately brought me to this decision, Captain Zaraki, is what you did most recently. You and your closest officers running off to the Living World without either permission or informing the Gotei 13 was a most horrible crime. We decided to let you think about this, Captain. I know you weren't the most happiest of the Gotei 13. I know that the Seireitei's many rules and regulations dissatisfied you. So we gave you time to think and decide whether or not you wanted to stay a shinigami."

"I know." Kenpachi said lightly.

Yamamoto stared at Kenpachi gravely. "I hope you've chosen well. Because whatever your decision, it will still be me who makes the final choice."

Yachiru's serious expression immediately vanished and a huge grin replaced it. The pink-haired shinigami tilted her head to the side and almost laughed out loud.

All the other shinigami and soul reapers stared at them, perplexed. What on earth was with the weird Eleventh Company? They were always laughing at the wrong time and they were just plain strange!!

Komamura was standing near the back of the small crowd. He was deep in thought. If, he thought to himself, Kenpachi made the right decision, then… they would be very happy. After all, those students Kenpachi had beat up and taught so long ago… were graduating today!!

The bucket-wearing captain looked over his shoulder at the Shinigami Academy. Through the window he saw his class, working diligently on their final papers and exercises, each one with such great determination and spirit behind them.

And there was that one boy, what was his name again? Haruki? The one with the determined red eyes who idolized Kenpachi. And Haruki's friend that always seemed behind him, tagging along, struggling to follow, but not giving up anymore. Kouji.

Komamura smiled to himself as he saw the two students through the window, each one working furiously and with great purpose.

_Zaraki… don't give up your post!! For the sake of your company, and for the sake of those students who believe in you… you have to stay the invincible captain of Eleventh Company so that those kids have someone to run for, someone to strive towards, in hope that they'll one day fight under you!! _

--

Somewhere above them, in the sky of the Seireitei, Ikkaku felt spiritual pressure. But it wasn't a spiritual pressure that was good. It was a pressure that made Ikkaku bite his lip with anxiety. It felt like… a really strong Hollow.

Yumichika noticed Ikkaku's expression. Hollows rarely ever entered Soul Society but with the appearance of those newer modified Hollows, the ones that had been changed or given meticulous abilities and those that were under Aizen's evil plans now had the ability to do basically whatever was before impossible.

Yumichika glared up at the sky worriedly. _…what crappy timing for one to appear now. _

Kenpachi and Yachiru had absolutely no sense of the Hollow appearing. They just sucked at sensing spiritual pressure. Sometimes they sensed hakudo. But right now the two ignorant Eleventh Company Captains had no idea of the danger looming towards them.

And then the sky seemed to give way. Darkening clouds accompanied by strange howls from Hollows appeared over the horizon. Then a crack appeared in the sky, splitting into more and more cracks, as the sky seemed to open up and one of the largest Hollows Ikkaku had ever seen emerged from the cracks and smirked, its wide white teeth gleaming and the hole in its chest seemed wider than ever.

Ikkaku was immediately on his guard. He reached towards his sheath and was about to whip out his sword when Yumichika stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.

Ikkaku stared at him. "What?"

Yumichika looked solemn. He turned his gaze towards the two Eleventh Company captains standing in front of them. "It's all right. It's all taken care of."

If the Captain-general sensed or knew that there was an enormous, strong Hollow behind him, he certainly didn't show it. He didn't even waver or show a sign of movement when the Hollow gave a huge bloodcurdling howl.

It was at this moment that Yachiru noticed the huge Hollow that was looming over the Captain-general. It moved closer and closer until it was standing right behind Yamamoto. And still, the Captain-general did nothing.

Yachiru tugged at Kenpachi's shihakusho with a small frown on her face.

Kenpachi smiled. He already knew.

Yamamoto didn't stir. Neither did any of the other shinigami captains gathered around. Some of their faces showed worry and concern over the giant Hollow, but none of them opened their mouths or said anything.

A small sweat drop did, however, roll down Ukitake's face as he watched.

"Captain Zaraki, I ask you now. Are you staying a soul reaper or not?" Yamamoto asked.

The Hollow growled and then stomped forward towards the unflinching captain-general. It leant down and reached towards Yamamoto with two large clawed hands with impeccably sharp ends.

In a flash, Kenpachi was there. Kenpachi sped towards Yamamoto and the Hollow in such speed he was invisible to most of the shinigami there. Yachiru stood back with Ikkaku and Yumichika and grinned.

As the Hollow advanced on its potential prey, Kenpachi came darting in through the air, with the wind and with an impressive super fast swing of his sword, slashed straight through the Hollow's mask.

As it threw back its head and roared with pain; in true Kenpachi-style, Kenpachi lifted his sword and swung it many times again, truly pulverising the Hollow into lots of little dispersing pieces.

Ikkaku thought for a spilt second that he saw the captain-general smiling slightly, and then he blinked and decided he must've been imagining things.

Kenpachi stood there, right beside Yamamoto, still with his sword held up, little pieces of Hollow mask and bits of Hollow flying through the air. He stood there, his white captain's coat billowing in the wind. Kenpachi's devilish grin was wider than ever.

"Did you really think I could give up on this?" he asked.

He took too much pleasure in being allowed to kill and hack apart these monsters to ever give up on Soulreaping. Kenpachi never mentioned anything about his company and the students he had trained, but it was obvious he would never give up on them.

Yamamoto closed his eyes for a moment and then declared, "That's fine then. Captain Zaraki, I can clearly see your passion for this. I advise you to go over the regime for your company and I urgently push you to complete your paperwork. I will let you go on the case of leaving Soul Society, but if it ever happens again, you will not get off this easily."

Yamamoto calmly and composedly walked away from Kenpachi, not even looking back at him. Kenpachi lowered his sword and rested it over his shoulder.

Yachiru let out a big happy cry and raced to hug her best friend. Ikkaku and Yumichika looked behind them to see all the other shinigami and captains disappearing and leaving behind the captain-general, but Yachiru didn't even glance at the vanishing crowd. She had eyes only for Kenpachi.

--

The Eleventh Company posse was rejoicing within themselves as they cheerfully headed back to their building, yes, _their _headquarters. Yachiru sitting upon Kenpachi's shoulder, Kenpachi resolutely marching ahead of the others and Ikkaku following eagerly behind with Yumichika at his heels.

Suddenly, they paused at the sound of someone yelling. They turned briefly to look.

Haruki was racing down the path, a sword in his hand, mouth wide open and yelling out loud at Kenpachi.

Right behind him and practically beside him was Kouji Hayasaki with his murky purpley hair. He stared at the ground in front of his feet and then suddenly looked up at the posse and showed his gleaming beautifully clear azure eyes.

"CAPTAIN ZARAKI!!" Haruki was yelling. The two students, who had grown since their last encounter were no longer immature boys. They looked like two determined young men.

Kenpachi smirked to himself and then turned away from them and faced home.

Haruki continued to shout, speaking both for himself and for Kouji, his quiet friend. "WE PROMISED YOU, DIDN'T WE??" The red-eyed new shinigami yelled. He stood there, obviously in his brand new shihakusho that seemed so fresh and newly ironed.

Haruki said loudly, "We told you we'd graduate and we did!!" His voice wobbled a little emotionally, as he stared down at his shihakusho. "We really became… soul reapers… just like we said!! And we… we never would've gotten this far without you, Captain Zaraki!! So… so…" Haruki struggled to find his words. He bowed down low and closed his eyes with tears brimming over them. "…thankyou!!"

Kenpachi stood, his back to them, just as before. Yachiru looked in their direction, an expressionless look on her face.

Kouji knew why Haruki was practically crying. Because although they had both worked so hard, because they had trained and pushed themselves to almost breaking point and became shinigami, the one thing they really wanted was to fight in Eleventh Company under Kenpachi.

And Haruki was scared. He was scared, that even after all his blood, sweat, tears and hard work; he still wouldn't be able to fight under Kenpachi. And that was what was holding him back at this moment.

"We promised!!" Haruki cried, although a bit of the spirit behind his voice was now lost. "Captain Zaraki, won't you… accept us into your company??" At Kenpachi's silence, Haru muttered despairingly, "… please… captain?"

Kenpachi still said nothing. His harsh ignorance was hurtful.

Finally, Kouji decided to speak up instead. "CAPTAIN!! ARE YOU JUST GOING TO IGNORE ALL OUR HARD WORK AND NOT LET US FIGHT UNDER YOU?? Even if you refuse to captain us, I'm not going to give up!! We're not going to give up!! We made a promise, right, and we're gonna keep it, whether you want it or not!!"

He stood, clear blue eyes flashing with indignation. Haruki raised his head, a little surprised at Kouji's sudden bravery.

Kenpachi finally spoke. His smirk widened. "Heh. I never said I'd act like I cared."

Yachiru grinned, sitting on his shoulder.

Then to the two wide-eyed shinigami academy students standing behind him, he declared loudly, "What? Are you two gonna stand there forever? Are you coming or not?"

With a happy tear bursting from eyes, Haruki stood straighter and started running after Kenpachi and the others. "Y-yes, Captain!!"

Kouji quickly ran after him, and although he hid his emotion with his messy murky hair, he smiled overjoyed to himself.

And so Kenpachi and Yachiru returned triumphantly to their headquarters with the ever-faithful Ikkaku and Yumichika behind them, and the two hopeful and young new shinigami Haruki and Kouji.

One thing was for sure: Eleventh Company was about to get even more insane!!

--

Kenpachi and Yachiru sat outside on the porch of their Eleventh Company building. Everyone else was inside, being forced to work on the stacks on paperwork. It seemed quiet and peaceful except for the occasional complaints that came from Ikkaku inside.

Yachiru sat beside Kenpachi and leant against his tall figure. She was happy and grinning.

"Hey Ken-chan?"

"Ehh?" Kenpachi replied with a little grunt.

"I love you."

At once, and as he normally did, Kenpachi replied. "I know."

And then with a second thought and dropping his voice to a murmur, he added:

"…Thankyou."

**THE END!! **

**Thankyou for reading ****Kenny and Yachiru's (Slightly Violent) Soul-Reaping Adventures!! **

**Thanks so much for all your overwhelming support everyone!! And yes, this fanfic is now officially over so don't check for a new chapter next week because there won't be one!! But there will be a new fanfic of course!! And please, please check it out!! **

**For all of my wonderful faithful readers of ****I'm a Soul Reaper, but I Love You****, the sequel/companion is coming out!! I'm so excited!! Woohoo!! YEEAAHH!! It's an angst fic, and I love writing them so much! What I mean by angst of course, is an emichii-style SUPER DARK PLOT. Mwahahaha!! **

**Return of Karin's awesome zanpakuto Hoshi Matsuri!! And HitsuKarin fluff of course! As well as focus on IchiRuki and the scarily dark story surrounding them!! ****That Unmendable Hole in my Heart! ****Read it, okaayy?? **

**Thankyou for everything!! See you!! emichii! **


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